Bacillus Cry9 family members

ABSTRACT

The invention provides nucleic acids, and variants and fragments thereof, obtained from strains of  Bacillus thuringiensis  encoding δ-endotoxins having pesticidal activity against insect pests, including Lepidoptera. Particular embodiments of the invention provide isolated nucleic acids encoding pesticidal proteins, pesticidal compositions, expression cassettes, and transformed microorganisms and plants comprising a nucleic acid of the invention. These compositions find use in methods for controlling pests, especially plant pests.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional application of U.S. Utility applicationSer. No. 11/018,615, filed Dec. 21, 2004, which claims the benefit ofU.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/531,807, filed Dec. 22, 2003,both of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.

REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING SUBMITTED ON COMPACT DISC

The official copy of the sequence listing is submitted on compact disc(CD). Two CDs, labeled Copy 1 and Copy 2, containing an ASCII formattedsequence listing with a file named 312497 SEQLIST.TXT, created on Jun.6, 2006, and having a size of 231 kilobytes are filed concurrently withthe specification. The sequence listing contained on these compact discsis part of the specification and is herein incorporated by reference inits entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to naturally-occurring and recombinantnucleic acids obtained from novel Bacillus thuringiensis Cry9-familygenes that encode δ-endotoxins characterized by pesticidal activityagainst insect pests. Compositions and methods of the invention utilizethe disclosed nucleic acids, and their encoded pesticidal polypeptides,to control plant pests.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Insect pests are a major factor in the loss of the world's agriculturalcrops. For example, armyworm feeding, black cutworm damage, or Europeancorn borer damage can be economically devastating to agriculturalproducers. Insect pest-related crop loss from European corn borerattacks on field and sweet corn alone has reached about one billiondollars a year in damage and control expenses.

Traditionally, the primary method for impacting insect pest populationssuch as black cutworm populations is the application of broad-spectrumchemical insecticides. However, consumers and government regulatorsalike are becoming increasingly concerned with the environmental hazardsassociated with the production and use of synthetic chemical pesticides.Because of such concerns, regulators have banned or limited the use ofsome of the more hazardous pesticides. Thus, there is substantialinterest in developing alternative pesticides.

Biological control of insect pests of agricultural significance using amicrobial agent, such as fungi, bacteria, or another species of insectaffords an environmentally friendly and commercially attractivealternative to synthetic chemical pesticides. Generally speaking, theuse of biopesticides presents a lower risk of pollution andenvironmental hazards, and biopesticides provide greater targetspecificity than is characteristic of traditional broad-spectrumchemical insecticides. In addition, biopesticides often cost less toproduce and thus improve economic yield for a wide variety of crops.

Certain species of microorganisms of the genus Bacillus are known topossess pesticidal activity against a broad range of insect pestsincluding Lepidoptera, Diptera, Coleoptera, Hemiptera, and others.Bacillus thuringiensis and Bacillus papilliae are among the mostsuccessful biocontrol agents discovered to date. Insect pathogenicityhas also been attributed to strains of B. larvae, B. lentimorbus, B.sphaericus (Harwook, ed., ((1989) Bacillus (Plenum Press), 306) and B.cereus (WO 96/10083). Pesticidal activity appears to be concentrated inparasporal crystalline protein inclusions, although pesticidal proteinshave also been isolated from the vegetative growth stage of Bacillus.Several genes encoding these pesticidal proteins have been isolated andcharacterized (see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,366,892 and5,840,868).

Microbial insecticides, particularly those obtained from Bacillusstrains, have played an important role in agriculture as alternatives tochemical pest control. Recently, agricultural scientists have developedcrop plants with enhanced insect resistance by genetically engineeringcrop plants to produce pesticidal proteins from Bacillus. For example,corn and cotton plants have been genetically engineered to producepesticidal proteins isolated from strains of B. thuringiensis and knownas δ-endotoxins or Cry toxins (see, e.g., Aronson (2002) Cell Mol. LifeSci. 59(3):417-425; Schnepf et al. (1998) Microbiol Mol Biol Rev.62(3):775-806). These genetically engineered crops are now widely usedin American agriculture and have provided the farmer with anenvironmentally friendly alternative to traditional insect-controlmethods. In addition, potatoes genetically engineered to containpesticidal Cry toxins have been sold to the American farmer. While theyhave proven to be very successful commercially, these geneticallyengineered, insect-resistant crop plants provide resistance to only anarrow range of the economically important insect pests.

Accordingly, there remains a need for new Bt toxins with a broader rangeof insecticidal activity against insect pests, e.g., toxins which areactive against a greater variety of insects from the order Lepidoptera.In addition, there remains a need for biopesticides having activityagainst a variety of insect pests and for biopesticides which haveimproved insecticidal activity.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Compositions and methods are provided for impacting insect pests. Morespecifically, the invention relates to methods of impacting insectsutilizing nucleic acids encoding δ-endotoxin genes to producetransformed microorganisms and plants that express a pesticidalpolypeptide of the invention. The compositions and methods of theinvention find use in agriculture for controlling pests of many cropplants. Such pests include agriculturally significant pests, such as,for example: European corn borer, e.g., Ostrinia nubilalis; cornearworm, e.g., Helicoverpa zeae; common stalk borer, e.g., Papiapemanebris; armyworm, e.g., Pseudaletia unipuncta; Southwestern corn borer,e.g., Diatraea grandiosella; black cutworm, e.g., Agrotis ipsilon; fallarmyworm, e.g., Spodoptera frugiperda; beet armyworm, e.g., Spodopteraexigua; and diamond-back moth, e.g., Plutella xylostella.

The invention provides nucleic acids and fragments and variants thereofwhich encode polypeptides that possess pesticidal activity againstinsect pests. The wild-type (e.g., naturally occurring) nucleotidesequences of the invention, which were obtained from strains of Bacillusthuringiensis, encode novel members of the Cry9 family of δ-endotoxins.The invention further provides fragments and variants of Cry 9 familynucleotide sequences that encode biologically active (e.g., pesticidal)polypeptides. In some embodiments, the nucleotide sequences encodepolypeptides that are pesticidal for at least one insect belonging tothe order Lepidoptera.

Other embodiments of the invention provide nucleic acids encodingtruncated versions of a Cry9 family endotoxin that are characterized bypesticidal activity that is either equivalent to or improved relative tothe activity of the corresponding full-length endotoxin. Some of thetruncated nucleic acids of the invention can be referred to as eitherfragments or variants. In some embodiments, some of the nucleic acids ofthe invention are truncated at the 3′ end or 5′ end of a wild-typecoding sequence. In other embodiments, nucleic acids of the inventioncomprise a contiguous sequence of nucleic acid residues derived fromanother coding sequence of the invention that have been truncated atboth the 5′ and 3′ ends.

The invention also provides mutant nucleotide sequences and theirencoded amino acid sequences that confer additional properties on apolypeptide encoded by or comprising them. For example, a mutantnucleotide sequence may encode a novel protease recognition site whichrenders a polypeptide containing it susceptible to digestion by theprotease. See, e.g., copending U.S. application Ser. Nos. 10/606,320,filed Jun. 25, 2003, and Ser. No. 10/746,914, filed Dec. 24, 2003. Thesemutations may be placed in the context of a background sequence, such asa Cry9 family nucleic acid, to provide toxins that have been engineeredto have improved and/or altered pesticidal activities. In this manner,the invention provides an array of mutations that may be usedindividually or in combination to provide improved properties to anengineered Bt toxin. The nucleic acids of the invention can be used toproduce expression cassettes that can be used to produce transformedmicroorganisms. The resulting transformants can be used in thepreparation of pesticidal compositions comprising a transformedmicroorganism, or for the production and isolation of pesticidalproteins. Thus, the invention further provides pesticidal compositionscomprising pesticidal polypeptides and/or transformed microorganisms aswell as methods for producing such compositions. The pesticidalcompositions of the invention find use in agricultural methods forimpacting pests.

The invention further provides isolated pesticidal (e.g., insecticidal)polypeptides encoded by either a naturally occurring, or a modified(e.g., mutagenized or manipulated) nucleic acid of the invention. Inparticular examples, pesticidal proteins of the invention includefragments of full-length δ-endotoxins and polypeptides that are producedfrom mutagenized nucleic acids designed to introduce particular aminoacid sequences into the polypeptides of the invention. In particularembodiments, the polypeptides of the invention have enhanced pesticidalactivity relative to the activity of the naturally occurring δ-endotoxinfrom which they are derived.

The nucleic acids of the invention can also be used to producetransgenic (e.g., transformed) plants that are characterized by genomesthat comprise at least one stably incorporated nucleotide constructcomprising a coding sequence of the invention operably linked to apromoter that drives expression of the encoded pesticidal polypeptide.Accordingly, transformed plant cells, plant tissues, plants, and seedsthereof are also provided.

In a particular embodiment, a transformed plant of the invention can beproduced using a nucleic acid that has been optimized for increasedexpression in a host plant. For example, one of the pesticidalpolypeptides of the invention can be back-translated to produce anucleic acid comprising codons optimized for expression in a particularhost, for example a crop plant such as a Zea mays plant. Expression of acoding sequence by such a transformed plant (e.g., dicot or monocot)will result in the production of a pesticidal polypeptide and conferincreased insect resistance to the plant. In some embodiments, theinvention provides transgenic plants expressing pesticidal polypeptidesthat find use in methods for impacting various insect pests.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1: Pileup of Cry9 family members, including Cry9 family sequencesof the invention, with consensus sequence (SEQ ID NO: 22) indicated. Thesequences shown in the figure are also set forth in the sequencelisting: cry9aa1 (SEQ ID NO: 12); cry9aa2 (SEQ ID NO: 13); cry 9da1 (SEQID NO: 14); cry9da2 (SEQ ID NO: 15); cry9d_rv1 (SEQ ID NO: 6); cry9_like (SEQ ID NO: 16); cry9_rv1 (SEQ ID NO: 2); cry9eb1 (SEQ ID NO:17); cry9fa (SEQ ID NO: 23); cry9ea1 (SEQ ID NO: 18); cry9ea2 (SEQ IDNO: 19); cry9ca1 (SEQ ID NO: 20); cry9ba1 (SEQ ID NO: 21); and theconsensus sequence (SEQ ID NO: 22).

FIG. 2: Simulated Gastric Fluid (SGF) digestibility of DP1019 crystalprotein. The results presented in FIG. 2 show that crystal protein frombacterial strain 1019 is rapidly digested in simulated gastric fluid(Astwood and Fuchs (1996) Food Tech. 50: 83-88; and Fu and Abbot (2002)Agric. Food Chem. 50: 7154-7160; see also Example 1). The incubationperiod of the digestion reaction is shown at the top of the gel, andmolecular weight markers are shown on the right-hand side of the gel.Arrows indicate the full-length 1019 protein (110 kDa) and a 62 kDafragment produced by digestion.

FIG. 3: A comparison of exemplary endotoxins of the invention to Pfamconsensus sequences for Endotoxin N (Pfam Accession No. PF03945; SEQ IDNO: 32, Endotoxin M (Pfam Accession No. PF00555; SEQ ID NO: 33), andEndotoxin C (Pfam Accession No. PF03944; SEQ ID NO: 34). The exemplaryendotoxins presented in the figure comprise amino acid residues 70 to296 (SEQ ID NO:35), residues 301 to 523 (SEQ ID NO:36), and residues 533to 670 (SEQ ID NO:37) of the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ IDNO:6. These Pfam consensus sequences were generated from an analysis ofdelta endotoxins, which are described in the Pfam annotations as afamily of insecticidal toxins produced by Bacillus bacteria. Briefly,when an insect ingests these proteins, they are activated by proteolyticcleavage; the N terminus is cleaved in all of the proteins and aC-terminal extension is cleaved in some members. Once activated, theendotoxin binds to the gut epithelium and causes cell lysis, leading todeath. The activated region of the delta endotoxin is composed of threestructural domains. The N-terminal helical domain is involved inmembrane insertion and pore formation. The second and third domains areinvolved in receptor binding.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention is drawn to compositions and methods for impacting insectpests, particularly plant pests. More specifically, the isolated nucleicacids of the invention, and fragments and variants thereof, comprisenucleotide sequences that encode pesticidal polypeptides (e.g.,proteins). The disclosed pesticidal proteins are biologically active(e.g., pesticidal) against insect pests such as, but not limited to,insect pests of the order Lepidoptera. Insect pests of interest include,but are not limited to: European corn borer, e.g., Ostrinia nubilalis;corn earworm, e.g., Helicoverpa zeae; common stalk borer, e.g.,Papiapema nebris; armyworm, e.g., Pseudaletia unipuncta; Southwesterncorn borer, e.g., Diatraea grandiosella; black cutworm, e.g., Agrotisipsilon; fall armyworn, e.g., Spodoptera frugiperda; beet armyworn,e.g., Spodoptera exigua; and diamond-back moth, e.g., Plutellaxylostella.

The compositions of the invention comprise isolated nucleic acids, andfragments and variants thereof, that encode pesticidal polypeptides,expression cassettes comprising nucleotide sequences of the invention,isolated pesticidal proteins, and pesticidal compositions. In someembodiments, the invention provides modified Cry9 family δ-endotoxinproteins characterized by improved insecticidal activity againstLepidopterans relative to the pesticidal activity of the correspondingwild-type protein. The invention further provides plants andmicroorganisms transformed with these novel nucleic acids, and methodsinvolving the use of such nucleic acids, pesticidal compositions,transformed organisms, and products thereof in impacting insect pests.

The nucleic acids and nucleotide sequences of the invention may be usedto transform any organism to produce the encoded pesticidal proteins.Methods are provided that involve the use of such transformed organismsto impact or control plant pests. The nucleic acids and nucleotidesequences of the invention may also be used to transform organelles suchas chloroplasts (McBride et al. (1995) Biotechnology 13: 362-365; andKota et al. (1999) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96: 1840-1845).

The invention further relates to the identification of fragments andvariants of the naturally-occurring coding sequence that encodebiologically active pesticidal proteins. The nucleotide sequences of theinvention find direct use in methods for impacting pests, particularlyinsect pests such as pests of the order Lepidoptera. Accordingly, thepresent invention provides new approaches for impacting insect peststhat do not depend on the use of traditional, synthetic chemicalinsecticides. The invention involves the discovery ofnaturally-occurring, biodegradable pesticides and the genes that encodethem.

The invention further provides fragments and variants of the naturallyoccurring coding sequences that also encode biologically active (e.g.,pesticidal) polypeptides. The nucleic acids of the invention encompassnucleic acid or nucleotide sequences that have been optimized forexpression by the cells of a particular organism, for example nucleicacid sequences that have been back-translated (i.e., reverse translated)using plant-preferred codons based on the amino acid sequence of apolypeptide having enhanced pesticidal activity. The invention furtherprovides mutations which confer improved or altered properties on thepolypeptides of the invention. See, e.g., copending U.S. applicationSer. Nos. 10/606,320, filed Jun. 25, 2003, and Ser. No. 10/746,914,filed Dec. 24, 2003.

In the description that follows, a number of terms are used extensively.The following definitions are provided to facilitate understanding ofthe invention.

Units, prefixes, and symbols may be denoted in their SI accepted form.Unless otherwise indicated, nucleic acids are written left to right in5′ to 3′ orientation; amino acid sequences are written left to right inamino to carboxy orientation, respectively. Numeric ranges are inclusiveof the numbers defining the range. Amino acids may be referred to hereinby either their commonly known three letter symbols or by the one-lettersymbols recommended by the IUPAC-IUB Biochemical NomenclatureCommission. Nucleotides, likewise, may be referred to by their commonlyaccepted single-letter codes. The above-defined terms are more fullydefined by reference to the specification as a whole.

As used herein, “nucleic acid” includes reference to adeoxyribonucleotide or ribonucleotide polymer in either single- ordouble-stranded form, and unless otherwise limited, encompasses knownanalogues (e.g., peptide nucleic acids) having the essential nature ofnatural nucleotides in that they hybridize to single-stranded nucleicacids in a manner similar to that of naturally occurring nucleotides.

As used herein, the terms “encoding” or “encoded” when used in thecontext of a specified nucleic acid mean that the nucleic acid comprisesthe requisite information to direct translation of the nucleotidesequence into a specified protein. The information by which a protein isencoded is specified by the use of codons. A nucleic acid encoding aprotein may comprise non-translated sequences (e.g., introns) withintranslated regions of the nucleic acid or may lack such interveningnon-translated sequences (e.g., as in cDNA).

As used herein, “full-length sequence” in reference to a specifiedpolynucleotide or its encoded protein means having the entire nucleicacid sequence or the entire amino acid sequence of a native(non-synthetic), endogenous sequence. A full-length polynucleotideencodes the full-length, catalytically active form of the specifiedprotein.

As used herein, the term “antisense” used in the context of orientationof a nucleotide sequence refers to a duplex polynucleotide sequence thatis operably linked to a promoter in an orientation where the antisensestrand is transcribed. The antisense strand is sufficientlycomplementary to an endogenous transcription product such thattranslation of the endogenous transcription product is often inhibited.Thus, where the term “antisense” is used in the context of a particularnucleotide sequence, the term refers to the complementary strand of thereference transcription product.

The terms “polypeptide,” “peptide,” and “protein” are usedinterchangeably herein to refer to a polymer of amino acid residues. Theterms apply to amino acid polymers in which one or more amino acidresidues is an artificial chemical analogue of a corresponding naturallyoccurring amino acid, as well as to naturally occurring amino acidpolymers.

The terms “residue” or “amino acid residue” or “amino acid” are usedinterchangeably herein to refer to an amino acid that is incorporatedinto a protein, polypeptide, or peptide (collectively “protein”). Theamino acid may be a naturally occurring amino acid and, unless otherwiselimited, may encompass known analogues of natural amino acids that canfunction in a similar manner as naturally occurring amino acids.

Polypeptides of the invention can be produced either from a nucleic aciddisclosed herein, or by the use of standard molecular biologytechniques. For example, a truncated protein of the invention can beproduced by expression of a recombinant nucleic acid of the invention inan appropriate host cell, or alternatively by a combination of ex vivoprocedures, such as protease digestion and purification.

As used herein, the terms “isolated” and “purified” are usedinterchangeably to refer to nucleic acids or polypeptides orbiologically active portions thereof that are substantially oressentially free from components that normally accompany or interactwith the nucleic acid or polypeptide as found in its naturally occurringenvironment. Thus, an isolated or purified nucleic acid or polypeptideis substantially free of other cellular material or culture medium whenproduced by recombinant techniques, or substantially free of chemicalprecursors or other chemicals when chemically synthesized.

An “isolated” nucleic acid is generally free of sequences (such as, forexample, protein-encoding sequences) that naturally flank the nucleicacid (i.e., sequences located at the 5′ and 3′ ends of the nucleic acid)in the genomic DNA of the organism from which the nucleic acid isderived. For example, in various embodiments, the isolated nucleic acidscan contain less than about 5 kb, 4 kb, 3 kb, 2 kb, 1 kb, 0.5 kb, or 0.1kb of nucleotide sequences that naturally flank the nucleic acids ingenomic DNA of the cell from which the nucleic acid is derived.

As used herein, the term “isolated” or “purified” as it is used to referto a polypeptide of the invention means that the isolated protein issubstantially free of cellular material and includes preparations ofprotein having less than about 30%, 20%, 10%, or 5% (by dry weight) ofcontaminating protein. When the protein of the invention or biologicallyactive portion thereof is recombinantly produced, culture mediumrepresents less than about 30%, 20%, 10%, or 5% (by dry weight) ofchemical precursors or non-protein-of-interest chemicals.

Throughout the specification the word “comprising,” or variations suchas “comprises” or “comprising,” will be understood to imply theinclusion of a stated element, integer or step, or group of elements,integers or steps, but not the exclusion of any other element, integeror step, or group of elements, integers or steps.

As used herein, the term “impacting insect pests” refers to effectingchanges in insect feeding, growth, and/or behavior at any stage ofdevelopment, including but not limited to: killing the insect; retardinggrowth; preventing reproductive capability; antifeedant activity; andthe like.

As used herein, the terms “pesticidal activity” and “insecticidalactivity” are used synonymously to refer to activity of an organism or asubstance (such as, for example, a protein) that can be measured by, butis not limited to, pest mortality, pest weight loss, pest repellency,and other behavioral and physical changes of a pest after feeding andexposure for an appropriate length of time. Thus, an organism orsubstance having pesticidal activity adversely impacts at least onemeasurable parameter of pest fitness. For example, “pesticidal proteins”are proteins that display pesticidal activity by themselves or incombination with other proteins. Endotoxins are pesticidal proteins.

As used herein, the term “pesticidally effective amount” connotes aquantity of a substance or organism that has pesticidal activity whenpresent in the environment of a pest. For each substance or organism,the pesticidally effective amount is determined empirically for eachpest affected in a specific environment. Similarly, an “insecticidallyeffective amount” may be used to refer to a “pesticidally effectiveamount” when the pest is an insect pest.

As used herein, the term “recombinantly engineered” or “engineered”connotes the utilization of recombinant DNA technology to introduce(e.g., engineer) a change in the protein structure based on anunderstanding of the protein's mechanism of action and a considerationof the amino acids being introduced, deleted, or substituted.

As used herein, the term “mutant nucleotide sequence” or “mutation” or“mutagenized nucleotide sequence” connotes a nucleotide sequence thathas been mutagenized or altered to contain one or more nucleotideresidues (e.g., base pair) that is not present in the correspondingwild-type sequence. Such mutagenesis or alteration consists of one ormore additions, deletions, or substitutions or replacements of nucleicacid residues. When mutations are made by adding, removing, or replacingan amino acid of a proteolytic site, such addition, removal, orreplacement may be within or adjacent to the proteolytic site motif, solong as the object of the mutation is accomplished (i.e., so long asproteolysis at the site is changed).

A mutant nucleotide sequence can encode a mutant δ-endotoxin showingimproved or decreased insecticidal activity, or an amino acid sequencewhich confers improved or decreased insecticidal activity on apolypeptide containing it. As used herein, the term “mutant” or“mutation” in the context of a protein a polypeptide or amino acidsequence refers to a sequence which has been mutagenized or altered tocontain one or more amino acid residues that are not present in thecorresponding wild-type sequence. Such mutagenesis or alterationconsists of one or more additions, deletions, or substitutions orreplacements of amino acid residues. A mutant polypeptide shows improvedor decreased insecticidal activity, or represents an amino acid sequencewhich confers improved insecticidal activity on a polypeptide containingit. Thus, the term “mutant” or “mutation” refers to either or both ofthe mutant nucleotide sequence and the encoded amino acids. Mutants maybe used alone or in any compatible combination with other mutants of theinvention or with other mutants. A “mutant polypeptide” may converselyshow a decrease in insecticidal activity. Where more than one mutationis added to a particular nucleic acid or protein, the mutations may beadded at the same time or sequentially; if sequentially, mutations maybe added in any suitable order.

As used herein, the term “improved insecticidal activity” or “improvedpesticidal activity” refers to a polypeptide or encoded polypeptideendotoxin of the invention that has enhanced Lepidopteran pesticidalactivity relative to the activity of its corresponding wild-typeprotein, and/or an endotoxin that is effective against a broader rangeof insects, and/or an endotoxin having specificity for an insect that isnot susceptible to the toxicity of the wild-type protein. A finding ofimproved or enhanced pesticidal activity requires a demonstration of anincrease of pesticidal activity of at least 10%, against the insecttarget, or at least 20%, 25%, 30%, 35%, 40%, 45%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 100%,150%, 200%, or 300% or greater increase of pesticidal activity relativeto the pesticidal activity of the wild-type endotoxin determined againstthe same insect.

For example, an improved pesticidal or insecticidal activity is providedwhere a wider or narrower range of insects is impacted by thepolypeptide relative to the range of insects that is affected by awild-type Bt toxin such as, for example, Cry9 and the like. A widerrange of impact may be desirable where versatility is desired, while anarrower range of impact may be desirable where, for example, beneficialinsects might otherwise be impacted by use or presence of the toxin.While the invention is not bound by any particular mechanism of action,an improved pesticidal activity may also be provided by changes in oneor more characteristics of a polypeptide; for example, the stability orlongevity of a polypeptide in an insect gut may be increased relative tothe stability or longevity of a corresponding wild-type protein.

The term “toxin” or “endotoxin” as used herein refers to a polypeptideshowing pesticidal activity or insecticidal activity or improvedpesticidal activity or improved insecticidal activity. In someinstances, polypeptide endotoxins of the invention and the nucleotidesequences encoding them will share a high degree of sequence identity orsimilarity to wild-type Cry9 sequences. The term “Cry9 family” is usedherein to refer to the nucleotide or amino acid sequences of the presentinvention, which share a high degree of sequence identity or similarityto previously described sequences categorized as Cry9 and/or Cry9D. “Bt”or “Bacillus thuringiensis” toxin or endotoxin is intended to includethe broader class of Cry toxins found in various strains of Bacillusthuringiensis, which includes such toxins as, for example, Cry1s, Cry2s,or Cry3s.

The terms “proteolytic site” or “cleavage site” refer to an amino acidsequence which confers sensitivity to a class of proteases or aparticular protease such that a polypeptide containing the amino acidsequence is digested by the class of proteases or particular protease. Aproteolytic site is said to be “sensitive” to the protease(s) thatrecognize that site. It is appreciated in the art that the efficiency ofdigestion will vary, and that a decrease in efficiency of digestion canlead to an increase in stability or longevity of the polypeptide in aninsect gut. Thus, a proteolytic site may confer sensitivity to more thanone protease or class of proteases, but the efficiency of digestion atthat site by various proteases may vary. Proteolytic sites include, forexample, trypsin sites, chymotrypsin sites, and elastase sites.

Research has shown that the insect gut proteases of Lepidopteransinclude trypsins, chymotrypsins, and elastases. See, e.g., Lenz et al.(1991) Arch. Insect Biochem. Physiol. 16: 201-212; and Hedegus et al.(2003) Arch. Insect Biochem. Physiol. 53: 30-47. For example, about 18different trypsins have been found in the midgut of Helicoverpa armigeralarvae (see Gatehouse et al. (1997) Insect Biochem. Mol. Biol. 27:929-944). The preferred proteolytic substrate sites of these proteaseshave been investigated. See, e.g., Peterson et al. (1995) InsectBiochem. Mol. Biol. 25: 765-774.

Efforts have been made to understand the mechanism of action of Bttoxins and to engineer toxins with improved properties. It has beenshown that insect gut proteases can affect the impact of Bacillusthuringiensis Cry proteins on the insect. Some proteases activate theCry proteins by processing them from a “protoxin” form into a toxicform, or “toxin.” See, Oppert (1999) Arch. Insect Biochem. Phys. 42:1-12; and Carroll et al. (1997) J. Invertebrate Pathology 70: 41-49.This activation of the toxin can include the removal of the N- andC-terminal peptides from the protein and can also include internalcleavage of the protein. Other proteases can degrade the Cry proteins.See Oppert, ibid.

It is well known that naturally-occurring δ-endotoxins are synthesizedby B. thuringiensis sporulating cells as a proteinaceous crystallineinclusion protoxin. Upon being ingested by susceptible insect larvae,the microcrystals dissolve in the midgut, and the protoxin istransformed into a biologically active moiety by proteasescharacteristic of digestive enzymes located in the insect gut. Theactivated δ-endotoxin binds with high affinity to protein receptors onbrush-border membrane vesicles. The epithelial cells lining the midgutare the primary target of the endotoxin and are rapidly destroyed as aconsequence of membrane perforation resulting from the formation ofgated, cation-selective channels by the toxin.

A comparison of the amino acid sequences of Cry toxins of differentspecificities reveals five highly-conserved sequence blocks.Structurally, the δ-endotoxins comprise three distinct domains whichare, from the N- to C-terminus: a cluster of seven alpha-helicesimplicated in pore formation (referred to as “domain 1”), threeanti-parallel beta sheets implicated in cell binding (referred to as“domain 2”), and a beta sandwich (referred to as “domain 3”). Thelocation and properties of these domains are known to those of skill inthe art. See, for example, Li et al. (1991) Nature, 305:815-821 andMorse et al. (2001) Structure, 9:409-417. When reference is made to aparticular domain, such as domain 1, it is understood that the exactendpoints of the domain with regard to a particular sequence are notcritical so long as the sequence or portion thereof includes sequencethat provides at least some function attributed to the particulardomain. Thus, for example, when referring to “domain 1,” it is intendedthat a particular sequence includes a cluster of seven alpha-helices,but the exact endpoints of the sequence used or referred to with regardto that cluster are not critical. One of skill in the art is familiarwith the determination of such endpoints and the evaluation of suchfunctions.

In an effort to better characterize and improve Bt toxins, strains ofthe bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis were studied. Crystal preparationsprepared from cultures of the Bacillus thuringiensis strains werediscovered to have pesticidal activity against European corn borer (see,e.g., Experimental Examples 1, 2, and 3). An effort was undertaken toidentify the nucleotide sequences encoding the crystal proteins from theselected strains, and the wild-type (i.e., naturally occurring) nucleicacids of the invention were isolated from these bacterial strains,cloned into an expression vector, and transformed into Escherichia coli.Depending upon the characteristics of a given preparation, it wasrecognized that the demonstration of pesticidal activity sometimesrequired trypsin pretreatment to activate the pesticidal proteins. Thus,it is understood that some pesticidal proteins require proteasedigestion (e.g., by trypsin, chymotrypsin, and the like) for activation,while other proteins are biologically active (e.g., pesticidal) in theabsence of activation.

Such molecules may be altered by means described, for example, in U.S.application Ser. Nos. 10/606,320, filed Jun. 25, 2003, and Ser. No.10/746,914, filed Dec. 24, 2003. In addition, nucleic acid sequences maybe engineered to encode Cry9 family polypeptides that contain additionalmutations that confer improved or altered pesticidal activity relativeto the pesticidal activity of the naturally occurring polypeptide. Thenucleotide sequences of such engineered nucleic acids comprise mutationsnot found in the wild type sequences.

The mutant Cry9 family polypeptides of the present invention aregenerally prepared by a process that involves the steps of: obtaining anucleic acid sequence encoding a Cry9 family polypeptide; analyzing thestructure of the polypeptide to identify particular “target” sites formutagenesis of the underlying gene sequence based on a consideration ofthe proposed function of the target domain in the mode of action of theendotoxin; introducing one or more mutations into the nucleic acidsequence to produce a desired change in one or more amino acid residuesof the encoded polypeptide sequence; and assaying the polypeptideproduced for pesticidal activity.

Many of the δ-endotoxins are related to various degrees by similaritiesin their amino acid sequences and tertiary structure and means forobtaining the crystal structures of B. thuringiensis endotoxins are wellknown. Exemplary high-resolution crystal structure solution of both theCry3A and Cry3B polypeptides are available in the literature. The solvedstructure of the Cry3A gene (Li et al. (1991) Nature 353:815-821)provides insight into the relationship between structure and function ofthe endotoxin. A combined consideration of the published structuralanalyses of B. thuringiensis endotoxins and the reported functionassociated with particular structures, motifs, and the like indicatesthat specific regions of the endotoxin are correlated with particularfunctions and discrete steps of the mode of action of the protein. Forexample, δ-endotoxins isolated from B. thuringiensis are generallydescribed as comprising three domains: a seven-helix bundle that isinvolved in pore formation, a three-sheet domain that has beenimplicated in receptor binding, and a beta-sandwich motif (Li et al.(1991) Nature 305: 815-821).

As reported in copending U.S. application Ser. Nos. 10/606,320, filedJun. 25, 2003, and Ser. No. 10/746,914, filed Dec. 24, 2003, thetoxicity of Cry proteins can be improved by targeting the region locatedbetween alpha helices 3 and 4 of domain 1 of the endotoxin. This theorywas premised on a body of knowledge concerning endotoxins, including: 1)that alpha helices 4 and 5 of domain 1 of Cry3A δ-endotoxins had beenreported to insert into the lipid bilayer of cells lining the midgut ofsusceptible insects (Gazit et al. (1998) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95:12289-12294); 2) the inventors' knowledge of the location of trypsin andchymotrypsin cleavage sites within the amino acid sequence of thewild-type protein; 3) the observation that the wild-type protein wasmore active against certain insects following in vitro activation bytrypsin or chymotrypsin treatment; and 4) reports that digestion oftoxins from the 3′ end resulted in decreased toxicity to insects.

A series of mutations may be created and placed in a variety ofbackground sequences to create novel polypeptides having enhanced oraltered pesticidal activity. See, e.g., U.S. application Ser. Nos.10/606,320, filed Jun. 25, 2003, and Ser. No. 10/746,914, filed Dec. 24,2003. These mutants include, but are not limited to: the addition of atleast one more protease-sensitive site (e.g., trypsin cleavage site) inthe region located between helices 3 and 4 of domain 1; the replacementof an original protease-sensitive site in the wild-type sequence with adifferent protease-sensitive site; the addition of multipleprotease-sensitive sites in a particular location; the addition of aminoacid residues near protease-sensitive site(s) to alter folding of thepolypeptide and thus enhance digestion of the polypeptide at theprotease-sensitive site(s); and adding mutations to protect thepolypeptide from degradative digestion that reduces toxicity (e.g.,making a series of mutations wherein the wild-type amino acid isreplaced by valine to protect the polypeptide from digestion). Mutationsmay be used singly or in any combination to provide polypeptides of theinvention.

In this manner, the invention provides sequences comprising a variety ofmutations, such as, for example, a mutation that comprises anadditional, or an alternative, protease-sensitive site located betweenalpha-helices 3 and 4 of domain 1 of the encoded polypeptide. A mutationwhich is an additional or alternative protease-sensitive site may besensitive to several classes of proteases such as serine proteases,which include trypsin and chymotrypsin, or enzymes such as elastase.Thus, a mutation which is an additional or alternativeprotease-sensitive site may be designed so that the site is readilyrecognized and/or cleaved by a category of proteases, such as mammalianproteases or insect proteases. A protease-sensitive site may also bedesigned to be cleaved by a particular class of enzymes or a particularenzyme known to be produced in an organism, such as, for example, achymotrypsin produced by the corn earworm Heliothis zea (Lenz et al.(1991) Arch. Insect Biochem. Physiol. 16: 201-212). Mutations may alsoconfer resistance to proteolytic digestion, for example, to digestion bychymotrypsin at the C-terminus of the peptide.

The presence of an additional and/or alternative protease-sensitive sitein the amino acid sequence of the encoded polypeptide can improve thepesticidal activity and/or specificity of the polypeptide encoded by thenucleic acids of the invention. Accordingly, the Cry9 family nucleotidesequences of the invention can be recombinantly engineered ormanipulated to produce polypeptides having improved or alteredinsecticidal activity and/or specificity compared to that of anunmodified wild-type δ-endotoxin. In addition, the mutations disclosedherein may be placed in or used in conjunction with other nucleotidesequences to provide improved properties. For example, aprotease-sensitive site that is readily cleaved by insect chymotrypsin,e.g., a chymotrypsin found in the bertha armyworm or the corn earworm(Hegedus et al. (2003) Arch. Insect Biochem. Physiol. 53: 30-47; andLenz et al. (1991) Arch. Insect Biochem. Physiol. 16: 201-212), may beplaced in a Cry9 family background sequence to provide improved toxicityto that sequence. In this manner, the invention provides toxicpolypeptides with improved properties.

For example, a mutagenized Cry9 family nucleotide sequence can compriseadditional mutants that comprise additional codons that introduce asecond trypsin-sensitive amino acid sequence (in addition to thenaturally occurring trypsin site) into the encoded polypeptide. Analternative addition mutant of the invention comprises additional codonsdesigned to introduce at least one additional differentprotease-sensitive site into the polypeptide, for example, achymotrypsin-sensitive site located immediately 5′ or 3′ of thenaturally occurring trypsin site. Alternatively, substitution mutantsmay be created in which at least one codon of the nucleic acid thatencodes the naturally occurring protease-sensitive site is destroyed andalternative codons are introduced into the nucleic acid sequence inorder to provide a different (e.g., substitute) protease-sensitive site.A replacement mutant may also be added to a Cry9 family sequence inwhich the naturally-occurring trypsin cleavage site present in theencoded polypeptide is destroyed and a chymotrypsin or elastase cleavagesite is introduced in its place.

It is recognized that any nucleotide sequence encoding the amino acidsequences that are proteolytic sites or putative proteolytic sites (forexample, sequences such as NGSR (SEQ ID NO:38), RR, or LKM) can be usedand that the exact identity of the codons used to introduce any of thesecleavage sites into a variant polypeptide may vary depending on the use,i.e., expression in a particular plant species. It is also recognizedthat any of the disclosed mutations can be introduced into anypolynucleotide sequence of the invention that comprises the codons foramino acid residues that provide the native trypsin cleavage site thatis targeted for modification. Accordingly, variants of eitherfull-length endotoxins or fragments thereof can be modified to containadditional or alternative cleavage sites, and these embodiments areintended to be encompassed by the scope of the invention disclosedherein.

It will be appreciated by those of skill in the art that any usefulmutation may be added to the Cry9 family sequences of the invention solong as the encoded polypeptides retain pesticidal activity. Thus, Cry9family sequences may also be mutated so that the encoded polypeptidesare resistant to proteolytic digestion by chymotrypsin. More than onerecognition site can be added in a particular location in anycombination, and multiple recognition sites can be added to or removedfrom the endotoxin. Thus, additional mutations can comprise three, four,or more recognition sites. It is to be recognized that multiplemutations can be engineered in any suitable polynucleotide sequence;accordingly, either full-length Cry9 family sequences or fragmentsthereof can be modified to contain additional or alternative cleavagesites as well as to be resistant to proteolytic digestion. In thismanner, the invention provides Cry9 family endotoxins containingmutations that improve pesticidal activity as well as improvedcompositions and methods for impacting pests using other Bt toxins.

Mutations may protect the polypeptide from protease degradation, forexample by removing putative proteolytic sites such as putative serineprotease sites and elastase recognition sites from different areas. Someor all of such putative sites may be removed or altered so thatproteolysis at the location of the original site is decreased. Changesin proteolysis may be assessed by comparing a mutant polypeptide withthe wild-type endotoxins or by comparing mutant endotoxins which differin their amino acid sequence. Putative proteolytic sites and proteolyticsites include, but are not limited to, the following sequences: RR, atrypsin cleavage site; LKM, a chymotrypsin site; and NGSR (SEQ IDNO:38), a trypsin site. These sites may be altered by the addition ordeletion of any number and kind of amino acid residues, so long as thepesticidal activity of the polypeptide is increased. Thus, polypeptidesencoded by nucleotide sequences comprising mutations will comprise atleast one amino acid change or addition relative to the native orbackground sequence, or 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15,16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 35, 38,40, 45, 47, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170,180, 190, 200, 210, 220, 230, 240, 250, 260, 270, or 280 or more aminoacid changes or additions. Pesticidal activity of a polypeptide may alsobe improved by truncation of the native or full-length sequence, as isknown in the art.

Compositions of the invention include nucleic acids, and fragments andvariants thereof, that encode pesticidal polypeptides. In particular,the present invention provides for isolated nucleic acid moleculescomprising nucleotide sequences encoding the amino acid sequences shownin SEQ ID NOs: 2, 4, 6, 25, 27, 29, and 31, or the nucleotide sequencescomprised by the DNA deposited in a bacterial host as Patent DepositNos. PTA-5550 and PTA-5551. Further provided are polypeptides having anamino acid sequence encoded by a nucleic acid molecule described herein,for example those set forth in SEQ ID NOs: 1, 3, 5, 24, 26, 28, and 30,those deposited in a bacterial host as Patent Deposit Nos. PTA-5550 andPTA-5551, and fragments and variants thereof.

Plasmids containing the nucleotide sequences of the invention weredeposited with the Patent Depository of the American Type CultureCollection (ATCC), 10801 University Blvd., Manassas, Va., 20110-2209 onSep. 25, 2003 and assigned Patent Deposit Nos. PTA-5550 and PTA-5551.These deposits will be maintained under the terms of the Budapest Treatyon the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms forthe Purposes of Patent Procedure. These deposits were made merely as aconvenience for those of skill in the art and are not an admission thata deposit is required under 35 U.S.C. §112.

Also of interest are optimized nucleotide sequences encoding thepesticidal proteins of the invention. As used herein, the phrase“optimized nucleotide sequences” refers to nucleic acids that areoptimized for expression in a particular organism, for example a plant.Optimized nucleotide sequences may be prepared for any organism ofinterest using methods known in the art. See, for example, U.S.application Ser. Nos. 10/606,320, filed Jun. 25, 2003, and Ser. No.10/746,914, filed Dec. 24, 2003, which describe an optimized nucleotidesequence encoding a disclosed pesticidal protein. In this example, thenucleotide sequence was prepared by reverse-translating the amino acidsequence of the protein and changing the nucleotide sequence so as tocomprise maize-preferred codons while still encoding the same amino acidsequence. This procedure is described in more detail by Murray et al.(1989) Nucleic Acids Res. 17:477-498. Optimized nucleotide sequencesfind use in increasing expression of a pesticidal protein in a plant,for example monocot plants of the Gramineae (Poaceae) family such as,for example, a maize or corn plant.

The invention further provides isolated pesticidal (e.g., insecticidal)polypeptides encoded by either a naturally-occurring or modified (e.g.,mutagenized or truncated) nucleic acid of the invention. Morespecifically, the invention provides polypeptides comprising an aminoacid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NOs: 2, 4, 6, 25, 27, 29, and 31, andthe polypeptides encoded by nucleic acids described herein, for examplethose set forth in SEQ ID NOs: 1, 3, 5, 24, 26, 28, and 30, andfragments and variants thereof.

In particular embodiments, pesticidal proteins of the invention providefull-length δ-endotoxin proteins, fragments of full-length δ-endotoxins,and variant polypeptides that are produced from mutagenized nucleicacids designed to introduce particular amino acid sequences intopolypeptides of the invention. In particular embodiments, the amino acidsequences that are introduced into the polypeptides comprise a sequencethat provides a cleavage site for an enzyme such as a protease.

It is known in the art that the pesticidal activity of Bacillusthuringiensis endotoxins is typically activated by cleavage of thepeptide in the insect gut by various proteases. Because peptides may notalways be cleaved with complete efficiency in the insect gut, fragmentsof a full-length endotoxin may have enhanced pesticidal activity incomparison to the full-length endotoxin itself. Thus, some of thepolypeptides of the invention embody fragments of a full-lengthδ-endotoxin, and some of the polypeptide fragments, variants, andmutations will have enhanced pesticidal activity relative to theactivity of the naturally occurring δ-endotoxin from which they arederived, particularly if the naturally occurring endotoxin is notactivated in vitro with a protease prior to screening for activity.Thus, provided are truncated versions or fragments of the Cry9 familysequences. For example, SEQ ID NO: 2 provides a polypeptide thatembodies a truncated version, or fragment, of the polypeptide set forthin SEQ ID NO: 4. Other examples of such truncated versions or fragmentsare set forth in SEQ ID NOs:2, 4, 6, 29, and 31, and in SEQ ID NOs: 1,3, 5, 28, and 30.

Mutations may be placed into any background sequence, including suchtruncated polypeptides, so long as the polypeptide retains pesticidalactivity. One of skill in the art can readily compare two or moreproteins with regard to pesticidal activity using assays known in theart or described elsewhere herein. It is to be understood that thepolypeptides of the invention can be produced either by expression of anucleic acid disclosed herein, or by the use of standard molecularbiology techniques. For example, a truncated protein of the inventioncan be produced by expression of a recombinant nucleic acid of theinvention in an appropriate host cell, or alternatively by a combinationof ex vivo procedures, such as purification of a purified wild-typeprotein and protease digestion.

It is recognized that the pesticidal proteins may be oligomeric and willvary in molecular weight, number of residues, component peptides,activity against particular pests, and other characteristics. However,by the methods set forth herein, proteins active against a variety ofpests may be isolated and characterized. The pesticidal proteins of theinvention can be used in combination with Bt endotoxins or otherinsecticidal proteins to increase insect target range. Furthermore, theuse of the pesticidal proteins of the present invention in combinationwith Bt δ-endotoxins or other insecticidal principles of a distinctnature has particular utility for the prevention and/or management ofinsect resistance. Other insecticidal agents include protease inhibitors(both serine and cysteine types), α-amylase, and peroxidase.

Fragments and variants of the nucleotide and amino acid sequences andthe polypeptides encoded thereby are also encompassed by the presentinvention. As used herein the term “fragment” refers to a portion of anucleotide sequence of a polynucleotide or a portion of an amino acidsequence of a polypeptide of the invention. Fragments of a nucleotidesequence may encode protein fragments that retain the biologicalactivity of the native or corresponding full-length protein and hencepossess pesticidal activity. Thus, it is acknowledged that some of thepolynucleotide and amino acid sequences of the invention can correctlybe referred to as both fragments and mutants.

It is to be understood that the term “fragment,” as it is used to referto nucleic acid sequences of the invention, also encompasses sequencesthat are useful as hybridization probes. This class of nucleotidesequences generally does not encode fragment proteins retainingbiological activity. Thus, fragments of a nucleotide sequence may rangefrom at least about 20 nucleotides, about 50 nucleotides, about 100nucleotides, and up to the full-length nucleotide sequence encoding theproteins of the invention.

A fragment of a Cry9 family nucleotide sequence that encodes abiologically active portion of a pesticidal protein of the inventionwill encode at least 15, 25, 30, 50, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700,800, 900, 1,000, 1,100, or 1,200 contiguous amino acids, or up to thetotal number of amino acids present in a pesticidal polypeptide of theinvention (for example, 613, 681, and 696 amino acids for SEQ ID NOs: 2,4, and 6, respectively). Thus, it is understood that the invention alsoencompasses polypeptides that are fragments of the exemplary pesticidalproteins of the invention and having lengths of at least 15, 25, 30, 50,100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, 1,000, 1,100, or 1,200contiguous amino acids, or up to the total number of amino acids presentin a pesticidal polypeptide of the invention (for example, 1,206, 1,210,and 669 amino acids for SEQ ID NOs: 2, 4, and 6, respectively).Fragments of a Cry9 family nucleotide sequence that are useful ashybridization probes or PCR primers generally need not encode abiologically active portion of a pesticidal protein. Thus, a fragment ofa Cry9 family nucleic acid may encode a biologically active portion of apesticidal protein, or it may be a fragment that can be used as ahybridization probe or PCR primer using methods disclosed herein. Abiologically active portion of a pesticidal protein can be prepared byisolating a portion of one of the Cry9-family nucleotide sequences ofthe invention, expressing the encoded portion of the pesticidal protein(e.g., by recombinant expression in vitro), and assessing the activityof the encoded portion of the pesticidal protein.

Nucleic acids that are fragments of a Cry9 family nucleotide sequencecomprise at least 16, 20, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 350, 400,450, 500, 600, 700, 800, 1,000, 1,200, 1,400, 1,600, 1,800, or 2,000nucleotides, or up to the number of nucleotides present in a Cry9 familynucleotide sequence disclosed herein (for example, 1,841, 2,043, and2,088 nucleotides for SEQ ID NOs: 1, 3, and 5, respectively). Forexample, SEQ ID NO: 1 represents a fragment of SEQ ID NO: 3. Morespecifically, particular embodiments of the nucleic acids of theinvention disclose fragments derived from (e.g., produced from) a firstnucleic acid of the invention, wherein the fragment encodes a truncatedCry9 family endotoxin characterized by pesticidal activity. Thetruncated polypeptide encoded by the polynucleotide fragments of theinvention are characterized by pesticidal activity that is eitherequivalent to, or improved, relative to the activity of thecorresponding full-length polypeptide encoded by the first nucleic acidfrom which the fragment is derived. In some embodiments, nucleic acidfragments of the invention are truncated at the 3′ end of the native orcorresponding full-length coding sequence. Nucleic acid fragments mayalso be truncated at both the 5′ and 3′ end of the native orcorresponding full-length coding sequence.

The term “variants” is used herein to refer to substantially similarsequences. For nucleotide sequences, conservative variants include thosesequences that, because of the degeneracy of the genetic code, encodethe amino acid sequence of one of the pesticidal polypeptides of theinvention. Naturally occurring allelic variants such as these can beidentified with the use of well-known molecular biology techniques, suchas, for example, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and hybridizationtechniques as outlined herein.

Variant nucleotide sequences also include synthetically derivednucleotide sequences, such as those generated, for example, by usingsite-directed mutagenesis but which still encode a pesticidal protein ofthe invention, such as a mutant endotoxin. Generally, variants of aparticular nucleotide sequence of the invention will have at least about70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 86%, 87%, 88%, 89%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%,96%, 97%, 98%, 99%, or more sequence identity to that particularnucleotide sequence as determined by sequence alignment programsdescribed elsewhere herein using default parameters. A variant of anucleotide sequence of the invention may differ from that sequence by asfew as 1-15 nucleotides, as few as 1-10, such as 6-10, as few as 5, asfew as 4, 3, 2, or even 1 nucleotide.

Variants of a particular nucleotide sequence of the invention (i.e., anexemplary nucleotide sequence) can also be evaluated by comparison ofthe percent sequence identity between the polypeptide encoded by avariant nucleotide sequence and the polypeptide encoded by the referencenucleotide sequence. Thus, for example, isolated nucleic acids thatencode a polypeptide with a given percent sequence identity to thepolypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 6 are disclosed. Percent sequence identitybetween any two polypeptides can be calculated using sequence alignmentprograms described elsewhere herein using default parameters. Where anygiven pair of polynucleotides of the invention is evaluated bycomparison of the percent sequence identity shared by the twopolypeptides they encode, the percent sequence identity between the twoencoded polypeptides is at least about 40%, 45%, 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%,70%, generally at least about 75%, 80%, 85%, at least about 90%, 91%,92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, or at least about 98%, 99% or moresequence identity.

As used herein, the term “variant protein” encompasses polypeptides thatare derived from a native protein by: deletion (so-called truncation) oraddition of one or more amino acids to the N-terminal and/or C-terminalend of the native protein; deletion or addition of one or more aminoacids at one or more sites in the native protein; or substitution of oneor more amino acids at one or more sites in the native protein.Accordingly, the term “variant protein” encompasses biologically activefragments of a native protein that comprise a sufficient number ofcontiguous amino acid residues to retain the biological activity of thenative protein, i.e., to have pesticidal activity. Such pesticidalactivity may be different or improved relative to the native protein orit may be unchanged, so long as pesticidal activity is retained.

Variant proteins encompassed by the present invention are biologicallyactive, that is they continue to possess the desired biological activityof the native protein, that is, pesticidal activity as described herein.Such variants may result from, for example, genetic polymorphism or fromhuman manipulation. Biologically active variants of a native pesticidalprotein of the invention will have at least about 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%,80%, 85%, 86%, 87%, 88%, 89%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%,98%, 99%, or more sequence identity to the amino acid sequence for thenative protein as determined by sequence alignment programs describedelsewhere herein using default parameters. A biologically active variantof a protein of the invention may differ from that protein by as few as1-15 amino acid residues, as few as 1-10, such as 6-10, as few as 5, asfew as 4, 3, 2, or even 1 amino acid residue.

The invention further encompasses a microorganism that is transformedwith at least one nucleic acid of the invention, with an expressioncassette comprising the nucleic acid, or with a vector comprising theexpression cassette. In some embodiments, the microorganism is one thatmultiplies on plants. An embodiment of the invention relates to anencapsulated pesticidal protein which comprises a transformedmicroorganism capable of expressing at least one pesticidal protein ofthe invention.

The invention provides pesticidal compositions comprising a transformedmicroorganism of the invention. In such embodiments, the transformedmicroorganism is generally present in the pesticidal composition in apesticidally effective amount, together with a suitable carrier. Theinvention also encompasses pesticidal compositions comprising anisolated protein of the invention, alone or in combination with atransformed organism of the invention and/or an encapsulated pesticidalprotein of the invention, in an insecticidally effective amount,together with a suitable carrier.

The invention further provides a method of increasing insect targetrange by using a pesticidal protein of the invention in combination withat least one other or “second” pesticidal protein. Any pesticidalprotein known in the art can be employed in the methods of the presentinvention. Such pesticidal proteins include, but are not limited to, Btδ-endotoxins, protease inhibitors, α-amylases, and peroxidases.

The invention also encompasses transformed or transgenic plantscomprising at least one nucleotide sequence of the invention. In someembodiments, the plant is stably transformed with a nucleotide constructcomprising at least one nucleotide sequence of the invention operablylinked to a promoter that drives expression in a plant cell. As usedherein, the terms “transformed plant” and “transgenic plant” refer to aplant that comprises within its genome a heterologous polynucleotide.Generally, the heterologous polynucleotide is stably integrated withinthe genome of a transgenic or transformed plant such that thepolynucleotide is passed on to successive generations. The heterologouspolynucleotide may be integrated into the genome alone or as part of arecombinant expression cassette.

It is to be understood that as used herein the term “transgenic”includes any cell, cell line, callus, tissue, plant part, or plant thegenotype of which has been altered by the presence of heterologousnucleic acid including those transgenics initially so altered as well asthose created by sexual crosses or asexual propagation from the initialtransgenic. The term “transgenic” as used herein does not encompass thealteration of the genome (chromosomal or extra-chromosomal) byconventional plant breeding methods or by naturally occurring eventssuch as random cross-fertilization, non-recombinant viral infection,non-recombinant bacterial transformation, non-recombinant transposition,or spontaneous mutation.

As used herein, the term “plant” includes whole plants, plant organs(e.g., leaves, stems, roots, etc.), seeds, plant cells, and progeny ofsame. Parts of transgenic plants are within the scope of the inventionand comprise, for example, plant cells, protoplasts, tissues, callus,embryos as well as flowers, stems, fruits, leaves, and roots originatingin transgenic plants or their progeny previously transformed with a DNAmolecule of the invention and therefore consisting at least in part oftransgenic cells.

As used herein, the term plant includes plant cells, plant protoplasts,plant cell tissue cultures from which plants can be regenerated, plantcalli, plant clumps, and plant cells that are intact in plants or partsof plants such as embryos, pollen, ovules, seeds, leaves, flowers,branches, fruit, kernels, ears, cobs, husks, stalks, roots, root tips,anthers, and the like. The class of plants that can be used in themethods of the invention is generally as broad as the class of higherplants amenable to transformation techniques, including bothmonocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plants. Such plants include, forexample, Solanum tuberosum and Zea mays.

While the invention does not depend on a particular biological mechanismfor increasing the resistance of a plant to a plant pest, expression ofthe nucleotide sequences of the invention in a plant can result in theproduction of the pesticidal proteins of the invention and in anincrease in the resistance of the plant to a plant pest. The plants ofthe invention find use in agriculture in methods for impacting insectpests. Certain embodiments of the invention provide transformed cropplants, such as, for example, maize plants, which find use in methodsfor impacting insect pests of the plant, such as, for example, Europeancorn borer.

A “subject plant or plant cell” is one in which genetic alteration, suchas transformation, has been effected as to a gene of interest, or is aplant or plant cell which is descended from a plant or cell so alteredand which comprises the alteration. A “control” or “control plant” or“control plant cell” provides a reference point for measuring changes inphenotype of the subject plant or plant cell.

A control plant or plant cell may comprise, for example: (a) a wild-typeplant or cell, i.e., of the same genotype as the starting material forthe genetic alteration which resulted in the subject plant or cell; (b)a plant or plant cell of the same genotype as the starting material butwhich has been transformed with a null construct (i.e., with a constructwhich has no known effect on the trait of interest, such as a constructcomprising a marker gene); (c) a plant or plant cell which is anon-transformed segregant among progeny of a subject plant or plantcell; (d) a plant or plant cell genetically identical to the subjectplant or plant cell but which is not exposed to conditions or stimulithat would induce expression of the gene of interest; or (e) the subjectplant or plant cell itself, under conditions in which the gene ofinterest is not expressed.

One of skill in the art will readily acknowledge that advances in thefield of molecular biology such as site-specific and random mutagenesis,polymerase chain reaction methodologies, and protein engineeringtechniques provide an extensive collection of tools and protocolssuitable for use to alter or engineer both the amino acid sequence andunderlying genetic sequences of proteins of agricultural interest.

Thus, the Cry9 family proteins of the invention may be altered invarious ways including amino acid substitutions, deletions, truncations,and insertions. Methods for such manipulations are generally known inthe art. For example, amino acid sequence variants of the pesticidalproteins can be prepared by introducing mutations into a syntheticnucleic acid (e.g., DNA molecule). Methods for mutagenesis and nucleicacid alterations are well known in the art. For example, designedchanges can be introduced using an oligonucleotide-mediatedsite-directed mutagenesis technique. See, for example, Kunkel (1985)Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 82:488-492; Kunkel et al. (1987) Methods inEnzymol. 154:367-382; U.S. Pat. No. 4,873,192; Walker and Gaastra, eds.(1983) Techniques in Molecular Biology (MacMillan Publishing Company,New York), and the references cited therein.

The mutagenized Cry9 family nucleotide sequences of the invention may bemodified so as to change about 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12 or more ofthe amino acids present in the primary sequence of the encodedpolypeptide. Alternatively, even more changes from the native sequencemay be introduced such that the encoded protein may have at least about1% or 2%, or about 3%, 4%, 5%, 6%, 7%, 8%, 9%, 10%, 11%, 12%, or evenabout 13%, 14%, 15%, 16%, 17%, 18%, 19%, or 20%, 21%, 22%, 23%, 24%, or25%, 30%, 35%, or 40% or more of the codons altered, or otherwisemodified compared to the corresponding wild-type protein. In the samemanner, the encoded protein may have at least about 1% or 2%, or about3%, 4%, 5%, 6%, 7%, 8%, 9%, 10%, 11%, 12%, or even about 13%, 14%, 15%,16%, 17%, 18%, 19%, or 20%, 21%, 22%, 23%, 24%, or 25%, 30%, 35%, or 40%or more additional codons compared to the corresponding wild-typeprotein. It should be understood that the mutagenized Cry9 familynucleotide sequences of the present invention are intended to encompassbiologically functional, equivalent peptides which have pesticidalactivity, such as an improved pesticidal activity as determined byantifeedant properties against fall armyworm larvae. Such sequences mayarise as a consequence of codon redundancy and functional equivalencythat are known to occur naturally within nucleic acid sequences and theproteins thus encoded.

One of skill in the art would recognize that amino acid additions and/orsubstitutions are generally based on the relative similarity of theamino acid side-chain substituents, for example, their hydrophobicity,charge, size, and the like. Exemplary amino acid substitution groupsthat take various of the foregoing characteristics into considerationare well known to those of skill in the art and include: arginine andlysine; glutamate and aspartate; serine and threonine; glutamine andasparagine; and valine, leucine, and isoleucine.

Guidance as to appropriate amino acid substitutions that do not affectbiological activity of the protein of interest may be found in the modelof Dayhoff et al. (1978) Atlas of Protein Sequence and Structure (Natl.Biomed. Res. Found., Washington, D.C.), herein incorporated byreference. Conservative substitutions, such as exchanging one amino acidwith another having similar properties, may be made.

Thus, the genes and nucleotide sequences of the invention include boththe naturally occurring sequences and mutant forms. Likewise, theproteins of the invention encompass both naturally occurring proteinsand variations (e.g., truncated polypeptides) and modified (e.g.,mutant) forms thereof. Such variants will continue to possess thedesired pesticidal activity. Obviously, the mutations that will be madein the nucleotide sequence encoding the variant must not place thesequence out of reading frame and generally will not createcomplementary regions that could produce secondary mRNA structure. See,EP Patent Application Publication No. 75,444.

The deletions, insertions, and substitutions of the protein sequencesencompassed herein are not expected to produce radical changes in thecharacteristics of the protein. However, when it is difficult to predictthe exact effect of the substitution, deletion, or insertion in advanceof doing so, one skilled in the art will appreciate that the effect willbe evaluated by routine screening assays, such as insect-feeding assays.See, for example, Marrone et al. (1985) J. Econ. Entomol. 78: 290-293and Czapla and Lang (1990) J. Econ. Entomol. 83: 2480-2485, hereinincorporated by reference.

Variant nucleotide sequences and proteins also encompass sequences andproteins derived from a mutagenic and recombinogenic procedure such asDNA shuffling. With such a procedure, one or more different Cry9 familycoding sequences can be manipulated to create a new pesticidal proteinpossessing the desired properties. In this manner, libraries ofrecombinant polynucleotides are generated from a population of relatedsequence polynucleotides comprising sequence regions that havesubstantial sequence identity and can be homologously recombined invitro or in vivo. For example, using this approach, full-length codingsequences, sequence motifs encoding a domain of interest, or anyfragment of a nucleotide sequence of the invention may be shuffledbetween the Cry9 family nucleotide sequences of the invention andcorresponding portions of other known Cry nucleotide sequences to obtaina new gene coding for a protein with an improved property of interest.

Properties of interest include, but are not limited to, pesticidalactivity per unit of pesticidal protein, protein stability, and toxicityto non-target species particularly humans, livestock, and plants andmicrobes that express the pesticidal polypeptides of the invention. Theinvention is not bound by a particular shuffling strategy, only that atleast one nucleotide sequence of the invention, or part thereof, isinvolved in such a shuffling strategy. Shuffling may involve onlynucleotide sequences disclosed herein or may additionally involveshuffling of other nucleotide sequences known in the art. Strategies forDNA shuffling are known in the art. See, for example, Stemmer (1994)Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 91:10747-10751; Stemmer (1994) Nature370:389-391; Crameri et al. (1997) Nature Biotech. 15:436-438; Moore etal. (1997) J. Mol. Biol. 272:336-347; Zhang et al. (1997) Proc. Natl.Acad. Sci. USA 94:4504-4509; Crameri et al. (1998) Nature 391:288-291;and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,605,793 and 5,837,458.

The nucleotide sequences of the invention can also be used to isolatecorresponding sequences from other organisms, particularly otherbacteria, and more particularly other Bacillus strains. In this manner,methods such as PCR, hybridization, and the like can be used to identifysuch sequences based on their sequence homology to the sequences setforth herein. Sequences that are selected based on their sequenceidentity to the entire Cry9 family sequences set forth herein or tofragments thereof are encompassed by the present invention. Suchsequences include sequences that are orthologs of the disclosedsequences. The term “orthologs” refers to genes derived from a commonancestral gene and which are found in different species as a result ofspeciation. Genes found in different species are considered orthologswhen their nucleotide sequences and/or their encoded protein sequencesshare substantial identity as defined elsewhere herein. Functions oforthologs are often highly conserved among species.

In a PCR approach, oligonucleotide primers can be designed for use inPCR reactions to amplify corresponding DNA sequences from cDNA orgenomic DNA extracted from any organism of interest. Methods fordesigning PCR primers and PCR cloning are generally known in the art andare disclosed in Sambrook et al. (1989) Molecular Cloning: A LaboratoryManual (2d ed., Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Plainview, N.Y.),hereinafter “Sambrook”. See also Innis et al., eds. (1990) PCRProtocols: A Guide to Methods and Applications (Academic Press, NewYork); Innis and Gelfand, eds. (1995) PCR Strategies (Academic Press,New York); and Innis and Gelfand, eds. (1999) PCR Methods Manual(Academic Press, New York). Known methods of PCR include, but are notlimited to, methods using paired primers, nested primers, singlespecific primers, degenerate primers, gene-specific primers,vector-specific primers, partially-mismatched primers, and the like.

In hybridization techniques, all or part of a known nucleotide sequenceis used as a probe that selectively hybridizes to other correspondingnucleotide sequences present in a population of cloned genomic DNAfragments or cDNA fragments (i.e., genomic or cDNA libraries) from achosen organism. The hybridization probes may be genomic DNA fragments,cDNA fragments, RNA fragments, or other oligonucleotides, and may belabeled with a detectable group such as ³²P or any other detectablemarker. Thus, for example, probes for hybridization can be made bylabeling synthetic oligonucleotides based on the Cry9 family sequencesof the invention. Methods for preparation of probes for hybridizationand for construction of cDNA and genomic libraries are generally knownin the art and are disclosed in Sambrook.

For example, an entire Cry9 family sequence disclosed herein, or one ormore portions thereof, may be used as a probe capable of specificallyhybridizing to corresponding Cry9 family sequences and messenger RNAs.To achieve specific hybridization under a variety of conditions, suchprobes include sequences that are unique among Cry9 family sequences andare generally at least about 10 or 20 nucleotides in length. Such probesmay be used to amplify corresponding Cry9 family sequences from a chosenorganism by PCR. This technique may be used to isolate additional codingsequences from a desired organism or as a diagnostic assay to determinethe presence of coding sequences in an organism. Hybridizationtechniques include hybridization screening of plated DNA libraries(either plaques or colonies; see, for example, Sambrook).

Hybridization of such sequences may be carried out under stringentconditions. The term “stringent conditions” or “stringent hybridizationconditions” as used herein refers to conditions under which a probe willhybridize to its target sequence to a detectably greater degree than toother sequences (e.g., at least 2-fold, 5-fold, or 10-fold overbackground). Stringent conditions are sequence-dependent and will bedifferent in different circumstances. By controlling the stringency ofthe hybridization and/or washing conditions, target sequences that are100% complementary to the probe can be identified (homologous probing).Alternatively, stringency conditions can be adjusted to allow somemismatching in sequences so that lower degrees of similarity aredetected (heterologous probing). Generally, a probe is less than about1000 or 500 nucleotides in length.

Typically, stringent conditions will be those in which the saltconcentration is less than about 1.5 M Na ion, typically about 0.01 to1.0 M Na ion concentration (or other salts) at pH 7.0 to 8.3 and thetemperature is at least about 30° C. for short probes (e.g., 10 to 50nucleotides) and at least about 60° C. for long probes (e.g., greaterthan 50 nucleotides). Stringent conditions may also be achieved with theaddition of destabilizing agents such as formamide. Exemplary lowstringency conditions include hybridization with a buffer solution of 30to 35% formamide, 1 M NaCl, 1% SDS (sodium dodecyl sulfate) at 37° C.,and a wash in 1× to 2× SSC (20× SSC=3.0 M NaCl/0.3 M trisodium citrate)at 50 to 55° C. Exemplary moderate stringency conditions includehybridization in 40 to 45% formamide, 1.0 M NaCl, 1% SDS at 37° C., anda wash in 0.5× to 1× SSC at 55 to 60° C. Exemplary high stringencyconditions include hybridization in 50% formamide, 1 M NaCl, 1% SDS at37° C., and a final wash in 0.1× SSC at 60 to 65° C. for at least about20 minutes. Optionally, wash buffers may comprise about 0.1% to about 1%SDS. The duration of hybridization is generally less than about 24hours, usually about 4 to about 12 hours.

Specificity is typically the function of post-hybridization washes, thecritical factors being the ionic strength and temperature of the finalwash solution. For DNA-DNA hybrids, the T_(m) (thermal melting point)can be approximated from the equation of Meinkoth and Wahl (1984) Anal.Biochem. 138:267-284: T_(m)=81.5° C.+16.6 (log M)+0.41 (% GC)−0.61 (%form)−500/L; where M is the molarity of monovalent cations, % GC is thepercentage of guanosine and cytosine nucleotides in the DNA, “% form” isthe percentage of formamide in the hybridization solution, and L is thelength of the hybrid in base pairs. The T_(m) is the temperature (underdefined ionic strength and pH) at which 50% of a complementary targetsequence hybridizes to a perfectly matched probe. Washes are typicallyperformed at least until equilibrium is reached and a low backgroundlevel of hybridization is achieved, such as for 2 hours, 1 hour, or 30minutes.

T_(m) is reduced by about 1° C. for each 1% of mismatching; thus, T_(m),hybridization, and/or wash conditions can be adjusted to hybridize tosequences of the desired identity. For example, if sequences with ≧90%identity are sought, the T_(m) can be decreased 10° C. Generally,stringent conditions are selected to be about 5° C. lower than the T_(m)for the specific sequence and its complement at a defined ionic strengthand pH. However, severely stringent conditions can utilize ahybridization and/or wash at 1, 2, 3, or 4° C. lower than the T_(m);moderately stringent conditions can utilize a hybridization and/or washat 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10° C. lower than the T_(m); low stringency conditionscan utilize a hybridization and/or wash at 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, or 20° C.lower than the T_(m).

Using the equation, hybridization and wash compositions, and desiredT_(m), those of ordinary skill will understand that variations in thestringency of hybridization and/or wash solutions are inherentlydescribed. If the desired degree of mismatching results in a T_(m) ofless than 45° C. (aqueous solution) or 32° C. (formamide solution), theSSC concentration can be increased so that a higher temperature can beused. An extensive guide to the hybridization of nucleic acids is foundin Tijssen (1993) Laboratory Techniques in Biochemistry and MolecularBiology—Hybridization with Nucleic Acid Probes, Part I, Chapter 2(Elsevier, New York); and Ausubel et al., eds. (1995) Current Protocolsin Molecular Biology, Chapter 2 (Greene Publishing andWiley-Interscience, New York). See also Sambrook. Thus, isolatedsequences that encode a Cry9 family protein of the invention andhybridize under stringent conditions to the Cry9-family sequencesdisclosed herein, or to fragments thereof, are encompassed by thepresent invention.

The following terms are used to describe the sequence relationshipsbetween two or more nucleic acids or polynucleotides: (a) “referencesequence”, (b) “comparison window”, (c) “sequence identity”, (d)“percentage of sequence identity”, and (e) “substantial identity”.

(a) As used herein, “reference sequence” is a defined sequence used as abasis for sequence comparison. A reference sequence may be a subset orthe entirety of a specified sequence; for example, as a segment of afull-length cDNA or gene sequence, or the complete cDNA or genesequence.

(b) As used herein, “comparison window” makes reference to a contiguousand specified segment of a polynucleotide sequence, wherein thepolynucleotide sequence in the comparison window may comprise additionsor deletions (i.e., gaps) compared to the reference sequence (which doesnot comprise additions or deletions) for optimal alignment of the twosequences. Generally, the comparison window is at least 20 contiguousnucleotides in length, and optionally can be 30, 40, 50, 100, or longer.Those of skill in the art understand that to avoid a high similarity toa reference sequence due to inclusion of gaps in the polynucleotidesequence a gap penalty is typically introduced and is subtracted fromthe number of matches.

Methods of alignment of sequences for comparison are well known in theart. Thus, the determination of percent sequence identity between anytwo sequences can be accomplished using a mathematical algorithm.Non-limiting examples of such mathematical algorithms are the algorithmof Myers and Miller (1988) CABIOS 4:11-17; the local alignment algorithmof Smith et al. (1981) Adv. Appl. Math. 2:482; the global alignmentalgorithm of Needleman and Wunsch (1970) J. Mol. Biol. 48:443-453; thesearch-for-local alignment method of Pearson and Lipman (1988) Proc.Natl. Acad. Sci. 85:2444-2448; the algorithm of Karlin and Altschul(1990) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 872264, as modified in Karlin andAltschul (1993) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90:5873-5877.

Computer implementations of these mathematical algorithms can beutilized for comparison of sequences to determine sequence identity.Such implementations include, but are not limited to: CLUSTAL in thePC/Gene program (available from Intelligenetics, Mountain View, Calif.);the ALIGN program (Version 2.0) and GAP, BESTFIT, BLAST, FASTA, andTFASTA in the GCG Wisconsin Genetics Software Package, Version 10(available from Accelrys Inc., 9685 Scranton Road, San Diego, Calif.,USA). Alignments using these programs can be performed using the defaultparameters. The CLUSTAL program is well described by Higgins et al.(1988) Gene 73:237-244 (1988); Higgins et al. (1989) CABIOS 5:151-153;Corpet et al. (1988) Nucleic Acids Res. 16:10881-90; Huang et al. (1992)CABIOS 8:155-65; and Pearson et al. (1994) Meth. Mol. Biol. 24:307-331.The ALIGN program is based on the algorithm of Myers and Miller (1988)supra. A PAM120 weight residue table, a gap length penalty of 12, and agap penalty of 4 can be used with the ALIGN program when comparing aminoacid sequences. The BLAST programs of Altschul et al (1990) J. Mol.Biol. 215:403 are based on the algorithm of Karlin and Altschul (1990)supra. BLAST nucleotide searches can be performed with the BLASTNprogram, score=100, wordlength=12, to obtain nucleotide sequenceshomologous to a nucleotide sequence encoding a protein of the invention.BLAST protein searches can be performed with the BLASTX program,score=50, wordlength=3, to obtain amino acid sequences homologous to aprotein or polypeptide of the invention. To obtain gapped alignments forcomparison purposes, Gapped BLAST (in BLAST 2.0) can be utilized asdescribed in Altschul et al. (1997) Nucleic Acids Res. 25:3389.Alternatively, PSI-BLAST (in BLAST 2.0) can be used to perform aniterated search that detects distant relationships between molecules.See Altschul et al. (1997) supra. When utilizing BLAST, Gapped BLAST,PSI-BLAST, the default parameters of the respective programs (e.g.,BLASTN for nucleotide sequences, BLASTX for proteins) can be used. Seethe National Center for Biotechnology Information website on the worldwide web at www.ncbi.hlm.nih.gov. Alignment may also be performedmanually by inspection.

Unless otherwise stated, sequence identity/similarity values providedherein refer to the value obtained using GAP Version 10 using thefollowing parameters: % identity and % similarity for a nucleotidesequence using GAP Weight of 50 and Length Weight of 3, and thenwsgapdna.cmp scoring matrix; % identity and % similarity for an aminoacid sequence using GAP Weight of 8 and Length Weight of 2, and theBLOSUM62 scoring matrix; or any equivalent program thereof. The term“equivalent program” as used herein refers to any sequence comparisonprogram that, for any two sequences in question, generates an alignmenthaving identical nucleotide or amino acid residue matches and anidentical percent sequence identity when compared to the correspondingalignment generated by GAP Version 10.

GAP uses the algorithm of Needleman and Wunsch (1970) supra, to find thealignment of two complete sequences that maximizes the number of matchesand minimizes the number of gaps. GAP considers all possible alignmentsand gap positions and creates the alignment with the largest number ofmatched bases and the fewest gaps. It allows for the provision of a gapcreation penalty and a gap extension penalty in units of matched bases.GAP must make a profit of gap creation penalty number of matches foreach gap it inserts. If a gap extension penalty greater than zero ischosen, GAP must, in addition, make a profit for each gap inserted ofthe length of the gap times the gap extension penalty. Default gapcreation penalty values and gap extension penalty values in Version 10of the GCG Wisconsin Genetics Software Package for protein sequences are8 and 2, respectively. For nucleotide sequences the default gap creationpenalty is 50 while the default gap extension penalty is 3. The gapcreation and gap extension penalties can be expressed as an integerselected from the group of integers consisting of from 0 to 200. Thus,for example, the gap creation and gap extension penalties can be 0, 1,2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65or greater.

GAP presents one member of the family of best alignments. There may bemany members of this family, but no other member has a better quality.GAP displays four figures of merit for alignments: Quality, Ratio,Identity, and Similarity. The Quality is the metric maximized in orderto align the sequences. Ratio is the quality divided by the number ofbases in the shorter segment. Percent Identity is the percent of thesymbols that actually match. Percent Similarity is the percent of thesymbols that are similar. Symbols that are across from gaps are ignored.A similarity is scored when the scoring matrix value for a pair ofsymbols is greater than or equal to 0.50, the similarity threshold. Thescoring matrix used in Version 10 of the GCG Wisconsin Genetics SoftwarePackage is BLOSUM62 (see Henikoff and Henikoff (1989) Proc. Natl. Acad.Sci. USA 89:10915).

(c) As used herein, “sequence identity” or “identity” in the context oftwo nucleic acid or polypeptide sequences makes reference to theresidues in the two sequences that are the same when aligned for maximumcorrespondence over a specified comparison window. When percentage ofsequence identity is used in reference to proteins it is recognized thatresidue positions which are not identical often differ by conservativeamino acid substitutions, where amino acid residues are substituted forother amino acid residues with similar chemical properties (e.g., chargeor hydrophobicity) and therefore do not change the functional propertiesof the molecule. When sequences differ in conservative substitutions,the percent sequence identity may be adjusted upwards to correct for theconservative nature of the substitution. Sequences that differ by suchconservative substitutions are said to have “sequence similarity” or“similarity”. Means for making this adjustment are well known to thoseof skill in the art. Typically this involves scoring a conservativesubstitution as a partial rather than a full mismatch, therebyincreasing the percentage sequence identity. Thus, for example, where anidentical amino acid is given a score of 1 and a non-conservativesubstitution is given a score of zero, a conservative substitution isgiven a score between zero and 1. The scoring of conservativesubstitutions is calculated, e.g., as implemented in the program PC/GENE(Intelligenetics, Mountain View, Calif.).

(d) As used herein, “percentage of sequence identity” means the valuedetermined by comparing two optimally aligned sequences over acomparison window, wherein the portion of the polynucleotide sequence inthe comparison window may comprise additions or deletions (i.e., gaps)as compared to the reference sequence (which does not comprise additionsor deletions) for optimal alignment of the two sequences. The percentageis calculated by determining the number of positions at which theidentical nucleic acid base or amino acid residue occurs in bothsequences to yield the number of matched positions, dividing the numberof matched positions by the total number of positions in the window ofcomparison, and multiplying the result by 100 to yield the percentage ofsequence identity.

(e)(i) The term “substantial identity” of polynucleotide sequences meansthat a polynucleotide comprises a sequence that has at least 70%. 80%,90%, or 95% or more sequence identity when compared to a referencesequence using one of the alignment programs described using standardparameters. One of skill in the art will recognize that these values canbe appropriately adjusted to determine corresponding identity ofproteins encoded by two nucleotide sequences by taking into accountcodon degeneracy, amino acid similarity, reading frame positioning, andthe like. Substantial identity of amino acid sequences for thesepurposes generally means sequence identity of at least 60%, 70%, 80%,90%, or 95% or more sequence identity.

Another indication that nucleotide sequences are substantially identicalis if two molecules hybridize to each other under stringent conditions.Generally, stringent conditions are selected to be about 5° C. lowerthan the T_(m) for the specific sequence at a defined ionic strength andpH. However, stringent conditions encompass temperatures in the range ofabout 1° C. to about 20° C. lower than the T_(m), depending upon thedesired degree of stringency as otherwise qualified herein. Nucleicacids that do not hybridize to each other under stringent conditions arestill substantially identical if the polypeptides they encode aresubstantially identical. This may occur, e.g., when a copy of a nucleicacid is created using the maximum codon degeneracy permitted by thegenetic code. One indication that two nucleic acid sequences aresubstantially identical is when the polypeptide encoded by the firstnucleic acid is immunologically cross reactive with the polypeptideencoded by the second nucleic acid.

(e)(ii) The term “substantial identity” in the context of a peptideindicates that a peptide comprises a sequence with at least 70%, 80%,85%, 90%, 95%, or more sequence identity to a reference sequence over aspecified comparison window. Optimal alignment for these purposes can beconducted using the global alignment algorithm of Needleman and Wunsch(1970) supra. An indication that two peptide sequences are substantiallyidentical is that one peptide is immunologically reactive withantibodies raised against the second peptide. Thus, a peptide issubstantially identical to a second peptide, for example, where the twopeptides differ only by a conservative substitution. Peptides that are“substantially similar” share sequences as noted above except thatresidue positions that are not identical may differ by conservativeamino acid changes.

The use of the term “nucleotide constructs” herein is not intended tolimit the present invention to nucleotide constructs comprising DNA.Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that nucleotideconstructs, particularly polynucleotides and oligonucleotides composedof ribonucleotides and combinations of ribonucleotides anddeoxyribonucleotides, may also be employed in the methods disclosedherein. The nucleotide constructs, nucleic acids, and nucleotidesequences of the invention additionally encompass all complementaryforms of such constructs, molecules, and sequences. Further, thenucleotide constructs, nucleotide molecules, and nucleotide sequences ofthe present invention encompass all nucleotide constructs, molecules,and sequences which can be employed in the methods of the presentinvention for transforming plants including, but not limited to, thosecomprised of deoxyribonucleotides, ribonucleotides, and combinationsthereof. Such deoxyribonucleotides and ribonucleotides include bothnaturally occurring molecules and synthetic analogues. The nucleotideconstructs, nucleic acids, and nucleotide sequences of the inventionalso encompass all forms of nucleotide constructs including, but notlimited to, single-stranded forms, double-stranded forms, hairpins,stem-and-loop structures, and the like.

A further embodiment of the invention relates to a transformed organismsuch as an organism selected from the group consisting of plant andinsect cells, bacteria, yeast, baculoviruses, protozoa, nematodes, andalgae. The transformed organism comprises: a DNA molecule of theinvention, an expression cassette comprising the said DNA molecule, or avector comprising the said expression cassette, which may be stablyincorporated into the genome of the transformed organism.

The Cry9 family sequences of the invention are provided in expressioncassettes for expression in the organism of interest. The cassette willinclude 5′ and 3′ regulatory sequences operably linked to a Cry9 familysequence of the invention. The term “operably linked” as used hereinrefers to a functional linkage between a promoter and a second sequence,wherein the promoter sequence initiates and mediates transcription ofthe DNA sequence corresponding to the second sequence. Generally,operably linked means that the nucleic acid sequences being linked arecontiguous and, where necessary to join two protein coding regions,contiguous and in the same reading frame. The cassette may additionallycontain at least one additional gene to be cotransformed into theorganism. Alternatively, the additional gene(s) can be provided onmultiple expression cassettes.

Such an expression cassette is provided with a plurality of restrictionsites for insertion of the Cry9 family sequence to be under thetranscriptional regulation of the regulatory regions. The expressioncassette may additionally contain selectable marker genes.

The expression cassette will include in the 5′ to 3′ direction oftranscription: a transcriptional and translational initiation region(i.e., a promoter), a Cry9 family DNA sequence of the invention, and atranscriptional and translational termination region (i.e., terminationregion) functional in the organism serving as a host. Thetranscriptional initiation region (i.e., the promoter) may be native,analogous, foreign or heterologous to the host organism and/or to theCry9 family sequence of the invention. Additionally, the promoter may bethe natural sequence or alternatively a synthetic sequence. The term“foreign” as used herein indicates that the promoter is not found in thenative organism into which the promoter is introduced. Where thepromoter is “foreign” or “heterologous” to the Cry9 family sequence ofthe invention, it is intended that the promoter is not the native ornaturally occurring promoter for the operably linked Cry9 familysequence of the invention. As used herein, a chimeric gene comprises acoding sequence operably linked to a transcription initiation regionthat is heterologous to the coding sequence. Where the promoter is anative or natural sequence, the expression of the operably linkedsequence is altered from the wild-type expression, which results in analteration in phenotype.

The termination region may be native with the transcriptional initiationregion, may be native with the operably linked DNA sequence of interest,may be native with the plant host, or may be derived from another source(i.e., foreign or heterologous to the promoter, the Cry9 family sequenceof interest, the plant host, or any combination thereof).

Convenient termination regions are available from the Ti-plasmid of A.tumefaciens, such as the octopine synthase and nopaline synthasetermination regions. See also Guerineau et al. (1991) Mol. Gen. Genet.262:141-144; Proudfoot (1991) Cell 64:671-674; Sanfacon et al. (1991)Genes Dev. 5:141-149; Mogen et al. (1990) Plant Cell 2:1261-1272; Munroeet al. (1990) Gene 91:151-158; Ballas et al. (1989) Nucleic Acids Res.17:7891-7903; and Joshi et al. (1987) Nucleic Acid Res. 15:9627-9639.

Where appropriate, a nucleic acid may be optimized for increasedexpression in the host organism. Thus, where the host organism is aplant, the synthetic nucleic acids can be synthesized usingplant-preferred codons for improved expression. See, for example,Campbell and Gowri (1990) Plant Physiol. 92:1-11 for a discussion ofhost-preferred codon usage. For example, although nucleic acid sequencesof the present invention may be expressed in both monocotyledonous anddicotyledonous plant species, sequences can be modified to account forthe specific codon preferences and GC content preferences ofmonocotyledons or dicotyledons as these preferences have been shown todiffer (Murray et al. (1989) Nucleic Acids Res. 17:477-498). Thus, themaize-preferred codon for a particular amino acid may be derived fromknown gene sequences from maize. Maize codon usage for 28 genes frommaize plants is listed in Table 4 of Murray et al., supra. Methods areavailable in the art for synthesizing plant-preferred genes. See, forexample, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,380,831, and 5,436,391, and Murray et al.(1989) Nucleic Acids Res. 17:477-498, herein incorporated by reference.

Additional sequence modifications are known to enhance gene expressionin a cellular host. These include elimination of sequences encodingspurious polyadenylation signals, exon-intron splice site signals,transposon-like repeats, and other well-characterized sequences that maybe deleterious to gene expression. The GC content of the sequence may beadjusted to levels average for a given cellular host, as calculated byreference to known genes expressed in the host cell. The term “hostcell” as used herein refers to a cell which contains a vector andsupports the replication and/or expression of the expression vector isintended. Host cells may be prokaryotic cells such as E. coli, oreukaryotic cells such as yeast, insect, amphibian, or mammalian cells,or monocotyledonous or dicotyledonous plant cells. An example of amonocotyledonous host cell is a maize host cell. When possible, thesequence is modified to avoid predicted hairpin secondary mRNAstructures.

The expression cassettes may additionally contain 5′ leader sequences.Such leader sequences can act to enhance translation. Translationleaders are known in the art and include: picomavirus leaders, forexample, EMCV leader (Encephalomyocarditis 5′ noncoding region)(Elroy-Stein et al. (1989) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86: 6126-6130);potyvirus leaders, for example, TEV leader (Tobacco Etch Virus) (Gallieet al. (1995) Gene 165(2): 233-238), MDMV leader (Maize Dwarf MosaicVirus), human immunoglobulin heavy-chain binding protein (BiP) (Macejaket al. (1991) Nature 353: 90-94); untranslated leader from the coatprotein mRNA of alfalfa mosaic virus (AMV RNA 4) (Jobling et al. (1987)Nature 325: 622-625); tobacco mosaic virus leader (TMV) (Gallie et al.(1989) in Molecular Biology of RNA, ed. Cech (Liss, New York), pp.237-256); and maize chlorotic mottle virus leader (MCMV) (Lommel et al.(1991) Virology 81: 382-385). See also, Della-Cioppa et al. (1987) PlantPhysiol. 84: 965-968.

In preparing the expression cassette, the various DNA fragments may bemanipulated so as to provide for the DNA sequences in the properorientation and, as appropriate, in the proper reading frame. Towardthis end, adapters or linkers may be employed to join the DNA fragmentsor other manipulations may be involved to provide for convenientrestriction sites, removal of superfluous DNA, removal of restrictionsites, or the like. For this purpose, in vitro mutagenesis, primerrepair, restriction, annealing, resubstitutions, e.g., transitions andtransversions, may be involved.

A number of promoters can be used in the practice of the invention. Thepromoters can be selected based on the desired outcome. The nucleicacids can be combined with constitutive, tissue-preferred, inducible, orother promoters for expression in the host organism. Suitableconstitutive promoters for use in a plant host cell include, forexample, the core promoter of the Rsyn7 promoter and other constitutivepromoters disclosed in WO 99/43838 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,072,050; the coreCaMV 35S promoter (Odell et al. (1985) Nature 313: 810-812); rice actin(McElroy et al. (1990) Plant Cell 2: 163-171); ubiquitin (Christensen etal. (1989) Plant Mol. Biol. 12: 619-632 and Christensen et al. (1992)Plant Mol. Biol. 18: 675-689); pEMU (Last et al. (1991) Theor. Appl.Genet. 81: 581-588); MAS (Velten et al. (1984) EMBO J. 3:2723-2730); ALSpromoter (U.S. Pat. No. 5,659,026), and the like. Other constitutivepromoters include, for example, those discussed in U.S. Pat. Nos.5,608,149; 5,608,144; 5,604,121; 5,569,597; 5,466,785; 5,399,680;5,268,463; 5,608,142; and 6,177,611.

Depending on the desired outcome, it may be beneficial to express thegene from an inducible promoter. Of particular interest for regulatingthe expression of the nucleotide sequences of the present invention inplants are wound-inducible promoters. Such wound-inducible promoters,may respond to damage caused by insect feeding, and include potatoproteinase inhibitor (pin II) gene (Ryan (1990) Ann. Rev. Phytopath. 28:425-449; Duan et al. (1996) Nature Biotechnology 14: 494-498); wun1 andwun2, U.S. Pat. No. 5,428,148; win1 and win2 (Stanford et al. (1989)Mol. Gen. Genet. 215: 200-208); systemin (McGurl et al. (1992) Science225: 1570-1573); WIP1 (Rohmeier et al. (1993) Plant Mol. Biol. 22:783-792; Eckelkamp et al. (1993) FEBS Letters 323: 73-76); MPI gene(Corderok et al. (1994) Plant J. 6(2): 141-150); and the like, hereinincorporated by reference.

Additionally, pathogen-inducible promoters may be employed in themethods and nucleotide constructs of the present invention. Suchpathogen-inducible promoters include those from pathogenesis-relatedproteins (PR proteins), which are induced following infection by apathogen; e.g., PR proteins, SAR proteins, beta-1,3-glucanase,chitinase, etc. See, for example, Redolfi et al. (1983) Neth. J. PlantPathol. 89: 245-254; Uknes et al. (1992) Plant Cell 4: 645-656; and VanLoon (1985) Plant Mol. Virol. 4: 111-116. See also WO 99/43819, hereinincorporated by reference.

Of interest are promoters that are expressed locally at or near the siteof pathogen infection. See, for example, Marineau et al. (1987) PlantMol. Biol. 9:335-342; Matton et al. (1989) Molecular Plant-MicrobeInteractions 2:325-331; Somsisch et al. (1986) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.USA 83:2427-2430; Somsisch et al. (1988) Mol. Gen. Genet. 2:93-98; andYang (1996) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 93:14972-14977. See also, Chen etal. (1996) Plant J. 10:955-966; Zhang et al. (1994) Proc. Natl. Acad.Sci. USA 91:2507-2511; Warner et al. (1993) Plant J. 3:191-201; Siebertzet al. (1989) Plant Cell 1:961-968; U.S. Pat. No. 5,750,386(nematode-inducible); and the references cited therein. Of particularinterest is the inducible promoter for the maize PRms gene, whoseexpression is induced by the pathogen Fusarium moniliforme (see, forexample, Cordero et al. (1992) Physiol. Mol. Plant Path. 41:189-200).

Chemical-regulated promoters can be used to modulate the expression of agene in a plant through the application of an exogenous chemicalregulator. Depending upon the objective, the promoter may be achemical-inducible promoter, where application of the chemical inducesgene expression, or a chemical-repressible promoter, where applicationof the chemical represses gene expression. Chemical-inducible promotersare known in the art and include, but are not limited to, the maizeIn2-2 promoter, which is activated by benzenesulfonamide herbicidesafeners, the maize GST promoter, which is activated by hydrophobicelectrophilic compounds that are used as pre-emergent herbicides, andthe tobacco PR-1a promoter, which is activated by salicylic acid. Otherchemical-regulated promoters of interest include steroid-responsivepromoters (see, for example, the glucocorticoid-inducible promoter inSchena et al. (1991) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88:10421-10425 andMcNellis et al. (1998) Plant J. 14(2):247-257) andtetracycline-inducible and tetracycline-repressible promoters (see, forexample, Gatz et al. (1991) Mol. Gen. Genet. 227:229-237, and U.S. Pat.Nos. 5,814,618 and 5,789,156), herein incorporated by reference.

Tissue-preferred promoters can be utilized to target enhanced pesticidalprotein expression within a particular plant tissue. Tissue-preferredpromoters include those discussed in Yamamoto et al. (1997) Plant J.12(2)255-265; Kawamata et al. (1997) Plant Cell Physiol. 38(7):792-803;Hansen et al. (1997) Mol. Gen Genet. 254(3):337-343; Russell et al.(1997) Transgenic Res. 6(2):157-168; Rinehart et al. (1996) PlantPhysiol. 112(3):1331-1341; Van Camp et al. (1996) Plant Physiol.112(2):525-535; Canevascini et al. (1996) Plant Physiol.1112(2):513-524; Yamamoto et al. (1994) Plant Cell Physiol.35(5):773-778; Lam (1994) Results Probl. Cell Differ. 20:181-196; Orozcoet al. (1993) Plant Mol Biol. 23(6):1129-1138; Matsuoka et al. (1993)Proc Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90(20):9586-9590; and Guevara-Garcia et al.(1993) Plant J. 4(3):495-505. Such promoters can be modified, ifnecessary, for weak expression.

Leaf-preferred promoters are known in the art. See, for example,Yamamoto et al. (1997) Plant J. 12(2):255-265; Kwon et al. (1994) PlantPhysiol. 105:357-67; Yamamoto et al. (1994) Plant Cell Physiol.35(5):773-778; Gotor et al. (1993) Plant J 3:509-18; Orozco et al.(1993) Plant Mol. Biol. 23(6):1129-1138; and Matsuoka et al. (1993)Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90(20):9586-9590.

Root-preferred or root-specific promoters are known and can be selectedfrom the many available from the literature or isolated de novo fromvarious compatible species. See, for example, Hire et al. (1992) PlantMol. Biol. 20(2):207-218 (soybean root-specific glutamine synthetasegene); Keller and Baumgartner (1991) Plant Cell 3(10):1051-1061(root-specific control element in the GRP 1.8 gene of French bean);Sanger et al. (1990) Plant Mol. Biol. 14(3):433-443 (root-specificpromoter of the mannopine synthase (MAS) gene of Agrobacteriumtumefaciens); and Miao et al. (1991) Plant Cell 3(1):11-22 (full-lengthcDNA clone encoding cytosolic glutamine synthetase (GS), which isexpressed in roots and root nodules of soybean). See also Bogusz et al.(1990) Plant Cell 2(7):633-641, where two root-specific promotersisolated from hemoglobin genes from the nitrogen-fixing nonlegumeParasponia andersonii and the related non-nitrogen-fixing nonlegumeTrema tomentosa are described. The promoters of these genes were linkedto a β-glucuronidase reporter gene and introduced into both thenonlegume Nicotiana tabacum and the legume Lotus corniculatus, and inboth instances root-specific promoter activity was preserved. Leach andAoyagi (1991) describe their analysis of the promoters of the highlyexpressed rolC and rolD root-inducing genes of Agrobacterium rhizogenes(see Plant Science (Limerick) 79(1):69-76). They concluded that enhancerand tissue-preferred DNA determinants are dissociated in thosepromoters. Teeri et al. (1989) used gene fusion to lacZ to show that theAgrobacterium T-DNA gene encoding octopine synthase is especially activein the epidermis of the root tip and that the TR2′ gene is root specificin the intact plant and stimulated by wounding in leaf tissue, anespecially desirable combination of characteristics for use with aninsecticidal or larvicidal gene (see EMBO J. 8(2):343-350). The TR1′gene fused to nptII (neomycin phosphotransferase II) showed similarcharacteristics. Additional root-preferred promoters include theVfENOD-GRP3 gene promoter (Kuster et al. (1995) Plant Mol. Biol.29(4):759-772); and rolB promoter (Capana et al. (1994) Plant Mol. Biol.25(4):681-691. See also U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,837,876; 5,750,386; 5,633,363;5,459,252; 5,401,836; 5,110,732; and 5,023,179.

“Seed-preferred” promoters include both “seed-specific” promoters (thosepromoters active during seed development such as promoters of seedstorage proteins) as well as “seed-germinating” promoters (thosepromoters active during seed germination). See Thompson et al. (1989)BioEssays 10:108, herein incorporated by reference. Such seed-preferredpromoters include, but are not limited to, Cim1 (cytokinin-inducedmessage); cZ19B1 (maize 19 kDa zein); and milps(myo-inositol-1-phosphate synthase) (see U.S. Pat. No. 6,225,529, hereinincorporated by reference). Gamma-zein and Glob-1 are endosperm-specificpromoters. For dicots, seed-specific promoters include, but are notlimited to, bean β-phaseolin, napin, β-conglycinin, soybean lectin,cruciferin, and the like. For monocots, seed-specific promoters include,but are not limited to, maize 15 kDa zein, 22 kDa zein, 27 kDa zein,g-zein, waxy, shrunken 1, shrunken 2, globulin 1, etc. See also WO00/12733, where seed-preferred promoters from end1 and end2 genes aredisclosed; herein incorporated by reference. A promoter that has“preferred” expression in a particular tissue is expressed in thattissue to a greater degree than in at least one other plant tissue. Sometissue-preferred promoters show expression almost exclusively in theparticular tissue.

Where low level expression is desired, weak promoters will be used.Generally, the term “weak promoter” as used herein refers to a promoterthat drives expression of a coding sequence at a low level. By low levelexpression at levels of about 1/1000 transcripts to about 1/100,000transcripts to about 1/500,000 transcripts is intended. Alternatively,it is recognized that the term “weak promoters” also encompassespromoters that drive expression in only a few cells and not in others togive a total low level of expression. Where a promoter drives expressionat unacceptably high levels, portions of the promoter sequence can bedeleted or modified to decrease expression levels.

Such weak constitutive promoters include, for example the core promoterof the Rsyn7 promoter (WO 99/43838 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,072,050), thecore 35S CaMV promoter, and the like. Other constitutive promotersinclude, for example, those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,608,149;5,608,144; 5,604,121; 5,569,597; 5,466,785; 5,399,680; 5,268,463;5,608,142; and 6,177,611; herein incorporated by reference.

Generally, the expression cassette will comprise a selectable markergene for the selection of transformed cells. Selectable marker genes areutilized for the selection of transformed cells or tissues. Marker genesinclude genes encoding antibiotic resistance, such as those encodingneomycin phosphotransferase II (NEO) and hygromycin phosphotransferase(HPT), as well as genes conferring resistance to herbicidal compounds,such as glufosinate ammonium, bromoxynil, imidazolinones, and2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetate (2,4-D). Additional examples of suitableselectable marker genes include, but are not limited to, genes encodingresistance to chloramphenicol (Herrera Estrella et al. (1983) EMBO J.2:987-992); methotrexate (Herrera Estrella et al. (1983) Nature303:209-213; and Meijer et al. (1991) Plant Mol. Biol. 16:807-820);streptomycin (Jones et al. (1987) Mol. Gen. Genet. 210:86-91);spectinomycin (Bretagne-Sagnard et al. (1996) Transgenic Res.5:131-137); bleomycin (Hille et al. (1990) Plant Mol. Biol. 7:171-176);sulfonamide (Guerineau et al. (1990) Plant Mol. Biol. 15:127-136);bromoxynil (Stalker et al. (1988) Science 242:419-423); glyphosate (Shawet al. (1986) Science 233:478-481; and U.S. application Ser. Nos.10/004,357; and 10/427,692); phosphinothricin (DeBlock et al. (1987)EMBO J. 6:2513-2518). See generally, Yarranton (1992) Curr. Opin.Biotech. 3: 506-511; Christopherson et al. (1992) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.USA 89: 6314-6318; Yao et al. (1992) Cell 71: 63-72; Reznikoff (1992)Mol. Microbiol. 6: 2419-2422; Barkley et al. (1980) in The Operon, pp.177-220; Hu et al. (1987) Cell 48: 555-566; Brown et al. (1987) Cell 49:603-612; Figge et al. (1988) Cell 52: 713-722; Deuschle et al. (1989)Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86: 5400-5404; Fuerst et al. (1989) Proc.Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86: 2549-2553; Deuschle et al. (1990) Science 248:480-483; Gossen (1993) Ph.D. Thesis, University of Heidelberg; Reines etal. (1993) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90: 1917-1921; Labow et al. (1990)Mol. Cell. Biol. 10: 3343-3356; Zambretti et al. (1992) Proc. Natl.Acad. Sci. USA 89: 3952-3956; Baim et al. (1991) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.USA 88: 5072-5076; Wyborski et al. (1991) Nucleic Acids Res. 19:4647-4653; Hillenand-Wissman (1989) Topics Mol. Struc. Biol. 10:143-162; Degenkolb et al. (1991) Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 35:1591-1595; Kleinschnidt et al. (1988) Biochemistry 27: 1094-1104; Bonin(1993) Ph.D. Thesis, University of Heidelberg; Gossen et al. (1992)Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89: 5547-5551; Oliva et al. (1992)Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 36: 913-919; Hlavka et al. (1985) Handbookof Experimental Pharmacology, Vol. 78 (Springer-Verlag, Berlin); andGill et al. (1988) Nature 334: 721-724. Such disclosures are hereinincorporated by reference.

The above list of selectable marker genes is not meant to be limiting.Any selectable marker gene can be used in the present invention.

The methods of the invention involve introducing a polypeptide orpolynucleotide into a plant. “Introducing” is intended to meanpresenting to the plant the polynucleotide or polypeptide in such amanner that the sequence gains access to the interior of a cell of theplant. The methods of the invention do not depend on a particular methodfor introducing a polynucleotide or polypeptide into a plant, only thatthe polynucleotide or polypeptides gains access to the interior of atleast one cell of the plant. Methods for introducing polynucleotide orpolypeptides into plants are known in the art including, but not limitedto, stable transformation methods, transient transformation methods, andvirus-mediated methods.

“Stable transformation” is intended to mean that the nucleotideconstruct introduced into a plant integrates into the genome of theplant and is capable of being inherited by the progeny thereof.“Transient transformation” is intended to mean that a polynucleotide isintroduced into the plant and does not integrate into the genome of theplant or a polypeptide is introduced into a plant.

Transformation protocols as well as protocols for introducing nucleotidesequences into plants may vary depending on the type of plant or plantcell, i.e., monocot or dicot, targeted for transformation. Suitablemethods of introducing nucleotide sequences into plant cells andsubsequent insertion into the plant genome include microinjection(Crossway et al. (1986) Biotechniques 4: 320-334), electroporation(Riggs et al. (1986) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 83: 5602-5606),Agrobacterium-mediated transformation (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,563,055 and5,981,840), direct gene transfer (Paszkowski et al. (1984) EMBO J. 3:2717-2722), and ballistic particle acceleration (see, for example, U.S.Pat. Nos. 4,945,050; 5,879,918; 5,886,244; and 5,932,782; Tomes et al.(1995) in Plant Cell, Tissue, and Organ Culture: Fundamental Methods,ed. Gamborg and Phillips (Springer-Verlag, Berlin); and McCabe et al.(1988) Biotechnology 6: 923-926); and Lecl transformation (WO 00/28058).For potato transformation see Tu et al. (1998) Plant Molecular Biology37: 829-838 and Chong et al. (2000) Transgenic Research 9: 71-78.Additional transformation procedures can be found in Weissinger et al.(1988) Ann. Rev. Genet. 22: 421-477; Sanford et al. (1987) ParticulateScience and Technology 5: 27-37 (onion); Christou et al. (1988) PlantPhysiol. 87: 671-674 (soybean); McCabe et al. (1988) Bio/Technology 6:923-926 (soybean); Finer and McMullen (1991) In Vitro Cell Dev. Biol.27P: 175-182 (soybean); Singh et al. (1998) Theor. Appl. Genet. 96:319-324 (soybean); Datta et al. (1990) Biotechnology 8: 736-740 (rice);Klein et al. (1988) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 85: 4305-4309 (maize);Klein et al. (1988) Biotechnology 6:559-563 (maize); U.S. Pat. Nos.5,240,855; 5,322,783 and 5,324,646; Klein et al. (1988) Plant Physiol.91: 440-444 (maize); Fromm et al. (1990) Biotechnology 8: 833-839(maize); Hooykaas-Van Slogteren et al. (1984) Nature (London) 311:763-764; U.S. Pat. No. 5,736,369 (cereals); Bytebier et al. (1987) Proc.Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 84: 5345-5349 (Liliaceae); De Wet et al. (1985) inThe Experimental Manipulation of Ovule Tissues, ed. Chapman et al.(Longman, New York), pp. 197-209 (pollen); Kaeppler et al. (1990) PlantCell Reports 9: 415-418 and Kaeppler et al. (1992) Theor. Appl. Genet.84: 560-566 (whisker-mediated transformation); D'Halluin et al. (1992)Plant Cell 4: 1495-1505 (electroporation); Li et al. (1993) Plant CellReports 12: 250-255 and Christou and Ford (1995) Annals of Botany 75:407-413 (rice); Osjoda et al. (1996) Nature Biotechnology 14: 745-750(maize via Agrobacterium tumefaciens); all of which are hereinincorporated by reference.

In specific embodiments, the Cry9 family sequences of the invention canbe provided to a plant using a variety of transient transformationmethods. Such transient transformation methods include, but are notlimited to, the introduction of the Cry9 family protein or variants andfragments thereof directly into the plant or the introduction of theCry9 family transcript into the plant. Such methods include, forexample, microinjection or particle bombardment. See, for example,Crossway et al. (1986) Mol Gen. Genet. 202: 179-185; Nomura et al.(1986) Plant Sci. 44: 53-58; Hepler et al. (1994) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.91: 2176-2180 and Hush et al. (1994) The Journal of Cell Science 107:775-784, all of which are herein incorporated by reference.Alternatively, the Cry9 family polynucleotide can be transientlytransformed into the plant using techniques known in the art. Suchtechniques include viral vector system and the precipitation of thepolynucleotide in a manner that precludes subsequent release of the DNA.Thus, transcription from the particle-bound DNA can occur, but thefrequency with which it is released to become integrated into the genomeis greatly reduced. Such methods include the use of particles coatedwith polyethylimine (PEI; Sigma #P3143).

Methods are known in the art for the targeted insertion of apolynucleotide at a specific location in the plant genome. In oneembodiment, the insertion of the polynucleotide at a desired genomiclocation is achieved using a site-specific recombination system. See,for example, WO99/25821, WO99/25854, WO99/25840, WO99/25855, andWO99/25853, all of which are herein incorporated by reference. Briefly,the polynucleotide of the invention can be contained in transfercassette flanked by two non-identical recombination sites. The transfercassette is introduced into a plant have stably incorporated into itsgenome a target site which is flanked by two non-identical recombinationsites that correspond to the sites of the transfer cassette. Anappropriate recombinase is provided and the transfer cassette isintegrated at the target site. The polynucleotide of interest is therebyintegrated at a specific chromosomal position in the plant genome.

The cells that have been transformed may be grown into plants inaccordance with conventional ways. See, for example, McCormick et al.(1986) Plant Cell Reports 5: 81-84. These plants may then be grown, andeither pollinated with the same transformed strain or different strains,and the resulting hybrid having constitutive or inducible expression ofthe desired phenotypic characteristic identified. Two or moregenerations may be grown to ensure that expression of the desiredphenotypic characteristic is stably maintained and inherited and thenseeds harvested to ensure that expression of the desired phenotypiccharacteristic has been achieved.

The nucleotide sequences of the invention may be provided to the plantby contacting the plant with a virus or viral nucleic acids. Generally,such methods involve incorporating the nucleotide construct of interestwithin a viral DNA or RNA molecule. It is recognized that therecombinant proteins of the invention may be initially synthesized aspart of a viral polyprotein, which later may be processed by proteolysisin vivo or in vitro to produce the desired pesticidal protein. It isalso recognized that such a viral polyprotein, comprising at least aportion of the amino acid sequence of a pesticidal protein of theinvention, may have the desired pesticidal activity. Such viralpolyproteins and the nucleotide sequences that encode for them areencompassed by the present invention. Methods for providing plants withnucleotide constructs and producing the encoded proteins in the plants,which involve viral DNA or RNA molecules are known in the art. See, forexample, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,889,191; 5,889,190; 5,866,785; 5,589,367; and5,316,931; herein incorporated by reference.

The invention further relates to plant-propagating material of atransformed plant of the invention including, but not limited to, seeds,tubers, corms, bulbs, leaves, and cuttings of roots and shoots.

The present invention may be used for transformation of any plantspecies, including, but not limited to, monocots and dicots. Examples ofplants of interest include, but are not limited to, corn (Zea mays),Brassica sp. (e.g., B. napus, B. rapa, B. juncea), particularly thoseBrassica species useful as sources of seed oil, alfalfa (Medicagosativa), rice (Oryza sativa), rye (Secale cereale), sorghum (Sorghumbicolor, Sorghum vulgare), millet (e.g., pearl millet (Pennisetumglaucum), proso millet (Panicum miliaceum), foxtail millet (Setariaitalica), finger millet (Eleusine coracana)), sunflower (Helianthusannuus), safflower (Carthamus tinctorius), wheat (Triticum aestivum),soybean (Glycine max), tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum), potato (Solanumtuberosum), peanuts (Arachis hypogaea), cotton (Gossypium barbadense,Gossypium hirsutum), sweet potato (Ipomoea batatus), cassaya (Manihotesculenta), coffee (Coffea spp.), coconut (Cocos nucifera), pineapple(Ananas comosus), citrus trees (Citrus spp.), cocoa (Theobroma cacao),tea (Camellia sinensis), banana (Musa spp.), avocado (Persea americana),fig (Ficus casica), guava (Psidium guajava), mango (Mangifera indica),olive (Olea europaea), papaya (Carica papaya), cashew (Anacardiumoccidentale), macadamia (Macadamia integrifolia), almond (Prunusamygdalus), sugar beets (Beta vulgaris), sugarcane (Saccharum spp.),oats, barley, vegetables, ornamentals, and conifers.

Vegetables include tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum), lettuce (e.g.,Lactuca sativa), green beans (Phaseolus vulgaris), lima beans (Phaseoluslimensis), peas (Lathyrus spp.), and members of the genus Cucumis suchas cucumber (C. sativus), cantaloupe (C. cantalupensis), and musk melon(C. melo). Ornamentals include azalea (Rhododendron spp.), hydrangea(Macrophylla hydrangea), hibiscus (Hibiscus rosasanensis), roses (Rosaspp.), tulips (Tulipa spp.), daffodils (Narcissus spp.), petunias(Petunia hybrida), carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus), poinsettia(Euphorbia pulcherrima), and chrysanthemum. Conifers that may beemployed in practicing the present invention include, for example, pinessuch as loblolly pine (Pinus taeda), slash pine (Pinus elliotii),ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), andMonterey pine (Pinus radiata); Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii);Western hemlock (Tsuga canadensis); Sitka spruce (Picea glauca); redwood(Sequoia sempervirens); true firs such as silver fir (Abies amabilis)and balsam fir (Abies balsamea); and cedars such as Western red cedar(Thuja plicata) and Alaska yellow-cedar (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis).Plants of the present invention include crop plants (for example, corn,alfalfa, sunflower, Brassica, soybean, cotton, safflower, peanut,sorghum, wheat, millet, tobacco, etc.), such as corn and soybean plants.

Turfgrasses include, but are not limited to: annual bluegrass (Poaannua); annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum); Canada bluegrass (Poacompressa); Chewings fescue (Festuca rubra); colonial bentgrass(Agrostis tenuis); creeping bentgrass (Agrostis palustris); crestedwheatgrass (Agropyron desertorum); fairway wheatgrass (Agropyroncristatum); hard fescue (Festuca longifolia); Kentucky bluegrass (Poapratensis); orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata); perennial ryegrass(Lolium perenne); red fescue (Festuca rubra); redtop (Agrostis alba);rough bluegrass (Poa trivialis); sheep fescue (Festuca ovina); smoothbromegrass (Bromus inermis); tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea); timothy(Phleum pratense); velvet bentgrass (Agrostis canina); weepingalkaligrass (Puccinellia distans); western wheatgrass (Agropyronsmithii); Bermuda grass (Cynodon spp.); St. Augustine grass(Stenotaphrum secundatum); zoysia grass (Zoysia spp.); Bahia grass(Paspalum notatum); carpet grass (Axonopus affinis); centipede grass(Eremochloa ophiuroides); kikuyu grass (Pennisetum clandesinum);seashore paspalum (Paspalum vaginatum); blue gramma (Boutelouagracilis); buffalo grass (Buchloe dactyloids); sideoats gramma(Bouteloua curtipendula).

Plants of interest include grain plants that provide seeds of interest,oil-seed plants, and leguminous plants. Seeds of interest include grainseeds, such as corn, wheat, barley, rice, sorghum, rye, millet, etc.Oil-seed plants include cotton, soybean, safflower, sunflower, Brassica,maize, alfalfa, palm, coconut, flax, castor, olive etc. Leguminousplants include beans and peas. Beans include guar, locust bean,fenugreek, soybean, garden beans, cowpea, mungbean, lima bean, favabean, lentils, chickpea, etc.

In certain embodiments the nucleic acid sequences of the presentinvention can be stacked with any combination of polynucleotidesequences of interest in order to create plants with a desiredphenotype. For example, the polynucleotides of the present invention maybe stacked with any other polynucleotides encoding polypeptides havingpesticidal and/or insecticidal activity, such as other Bacillusthuringiensis toxic proteins (described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,366,892;5,747,450; 5,736,514; 5,723,756; 5,593,881; and Geiser et al. (1986)Gene 48:109), pentin (described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,981,722) and thelike. The combinations generated can also include multiple copies of anyone of the polynucleotides of interest. The polynucleotides of thepresent invention can also be stacked with any other gene or combinationof genes to produce plants with a variety of desired trait combinationsincluding but not limited to traits desirable for animal feed such ashigh oil genes (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,232,529); balanced amino acids(e.g. hordothionins (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,990,389; 5,885,801; 5,885,802; and5,703,049); barley high lysine (Williamson et al. (1987) Eur. J.Biochem. 165: 99-106; and WO 98/20122) and high methionine proteins(Pedersen et al. (1986) J. Biol. Chem. 261: 6279; Kirihara et al. (1988)Gene 71: 359; and Musumura et al. (1989) Plant Mol. Biol. 12: 123));increased digestibility (e.g., modified storage proteins (U.S.application Ser. No. 10/053,410, filed Nov. 7, 2001); and thioredoxins(U.S. application Ser. No. 10/005,429, filed Dec. 3, 2001)), thedisclosures of which are herein incorporated by reference.

The polynucleotides of the present invention can also be stacked withtraits desirable for disease or herbicide resistance (e.g., fumonisindetoxification genes (U.S. Pat. No. 5,792,931); avirulence and diseaseresistance genes (Jones et al. (1994) Science 266:789; Martin et al.(1993) Science 262: 1432; and Mindrinos et al. (1994) Cell 78:1089);acetolactate synthase (ALS) mutants that lead to herbicide resistancesuch as the S4 and/or Hra mutations; inhibitors of glutamine synthasesuch as phosphinothricin or basta (e.g., bar gene); and glyphosateresistance (EPSPS gene and GAT gene as disclosed in U.S. applicationSer. Nos. 10/004,357; and 10/427,692); and traits desirable forprocessing or process products such as high oil (e.g., U.S. Pat. No.6,232,529); modified oils (e.g., fatty acid desaturase genes (U.S. Pat.No. 5,952,544; WO 94/11516)); modified starches (e.g., ADPGpyrophosphorylases (AGPase), starch synthases (SS), starch branchingenzymes (SBE) and starch debranching enzymes (SDBE)); and polymers orbioplastics (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,602,321; beta-ketothiolase,polyhydroxybutyrate synthase, and acetoacetyl-CoA reductase (Schubert etal. (1988) J. Bacteriol. 170: 5837-5847) facilitate expression ofpolyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs)), the disclosures of which are hereinincorporated by reference. One could also combine the polynucleotides ofthe present invention with polynucleotides providing agronomic traitssuch as male sterility (e.g., see U.S. Pat. No. 5,583,210), stalkstrength, flowering time, or transformation technology traits such ascell cycle regulation or gene targeting (e.g. WO 99/61619; WO 00/17364;WO 99/25821), the disclosures of which are herein incorporated byreference.

These stacked combinations can be created by any method including butnot limited to cross breeding plants by any conventional or TopCross®methodology, or genetic transformation. If the traits are stacked bygenetically transforming the plants, the polynucleotide sequences ofinterest can be combined at any time and in any order. For example, atransgenic plant comprising one or more desired traits can be used asthe target to introduce further traits by subsequent transformation. Thetraits can be introduced simultaneously in a co-transformation protocolwith the polynucleotides of interest provided by any combination oftransformation cassettes. For example, if two sequences will beintroduced, the two sequences can be contained in separatetransformation cassettes (trans) or contained on the same transformationcassette (cis). Expression of the sequences can be driven by the samepromoter or by different promoters. In certain cases, it may bedesirable to introduce a transformation cassette that will suppress theexpression of the polynucleotide of interest. This may be combined withany combination of other suppression cassettes or overexpressioncassettes to generate the desired combination of traits in the plant. Itis further recognized that polynucleotide sequences can be stacked at adesired genomic location using a site-specific recombination system.See, for example, WO99/25821, WO99/25854, WO99/25840, WO99/25855, andWO99/25853, all of which are herein incorporated by reference.

Compositions of the invention find use in protecting plants, seeds, andplant products in a variety of ways. For example, the compositions canbe used in a method that involves placing an effective amount of thepesticidal composition in the environment of the pest by a procedureselected from the group consisting of spraying, dusting, broadcasting,or seed coating.

Before plant propagation material (fruit, tuber, bulb, corm, grains,seed), but especially seed, is sold as a commercial product, it iscustomarily treated with a protectant coating comprising herbicides,insecticides, fungicides, bactericides, nematicides, molluscicides, ormixtures of several of these preparations, if desired together withfurther carriers, surfactants, or application-promoting adjuvantscustomarily employed in the art of formulation to provide protectionagainst damage caused by bacterial, fungal, or animal pests. In order totreat the seed, the protectant coating may be applied to the seedseither by impregnating the tubers or grains with a liquid formulation orby coating them with a combined wet or dry formulation. In addition, inspecial cases, other methods of application to plants are possible,e.g., treatment directed at the buds or the fruit.

The plant seed of the invention comprising a nucleotide sequenceencoding a pesticidal protein of the invention may be treated with aseed protectant coating comprising a seed treatment compound, such as,for example, captan, carboxin, thiram, methalaxyl, pirimiphos-methyl,and others that are commonly used in seed treatment. In one embodimentwithin the scope of the invention, a seed protectant coating comprisinga pesticidal composition of the invention is used alone or incombination with one of the seed protectant coatings customarily used inseed treatment.

It is recognized that the genes encoding the pesticidal proteins can beused to transform insect pathogenic organisms. Such organisms includebaculoviruses, fungi, protozoa, bacteria, and nematodes.

A gene encoding a pesticidal protein of the invention may be introducedvia a suitable vector into a microbial host, and said host applied tothe environment, or to plants or animals. The term “introduced” in thecontext of inserting a nucleic acid into a cell, means “transfection” or“transformation” or “transduction” and includes reference to theincorporation of a nucleic acid into a eukaryotic or prokaryotic cellwhere the nucleic acid may be incorporated into the genome of the cell(e.g., chromosome, plasmid, plastid, or mitochondrial DNA), convertedinto an autonomous replicon, or transiently expressed (e.g., transfectedmRNA).

Microorganism hosts that are known to occupy the “phytosphere”(phylloplane, phyllosphere, rhizosphere, and/or rhizoplana) of one ormore crops of interest may be selected. These microorganisms areselected so as to be capable of successfully competing in the particularenvironment with the wild-type microorganisms, provide for stablemaintenance and expression of the gene expressing the pesticidalprotein, and desirably, provide for improved protection of the pesticidefrom environmental degradation and inactivation.

Such microorganisms include bacteria, algae, and fungi. Of particularinterest are microorganisms such as bacteria, e.g., Pseudomonas,Erwinia, Serratia, Klebsiella, Xanthomonas, Streptomyces, Rhizobium,Rhodopseudomonas, Methylius, Agrobacterium, Acetobacter, Lactobacillus,Arthrobacter, Azotobacter, Leuconostoc, and Alcaligenes, fungi,particularly yeast, e.g., Saccharomyces, Cryptococcus, Kluyveromyces,Sporobolomyces, Rhodotorula, and Aureobasidium. Of particular interestare such phytosphere bacterial species as Pseudomonas syringae,Pseudomonas fluorescens, Serratia marcescens, Acetobacter xylinum,Agrobacteria, Rhodopseudomonas spheroides, Xanthomonas campestris,Rhizobium melioti, Alcaligenes entrophus, Clavibacter xyli andAzotobacter vinlandir and phytosphere yeast species such as Rhodotorularubra, R. glutinis, R. marina, R. aurantiaca, Cryptococcus albidus, C.diffluens, C. laurentii, Saccharomyces rosei, S. pretoriensis, S.cerevisiae, Sporobolomyces rosues, S. odorus, Kluyveromyces veronae, andAureobasidium pollulans. Of particular interest are the pigmentedmicroorganisms.

A number of ways are available for introducing a gene expressing thepesticidal protein into the microorganism host under conditions thatallow for stable maintenance and expression of the gene. For example,expression cassettes can be constructed which include the nucleotideconstructs of interest operably linked with the transcriptional andtranslational regulatory signals for expression of the nucleotideconstructs, and a nucleotide sequence homologous with a sequence in thehost organism, whereby integration will occur, and/or a replicationsystem that is functional in the host, whereby integration or stablemaintenance will occur.

Transcriptional and translational regulatory signals include, but arenot limited to, promoters, transcriptional initiation start sites,operators, activators, enhancers, other regulatory elements, ribosomalbinding sites, an initiation codon, termination signals, and the like.See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,039,523 and 4,853,331; EPO 0480762A2;Sambrook et al. (1992) Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, ed.Maniatis et al. (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold SpringHarbor, N.Y.), hereinafter “Sambrook II”; Davis et al., eds. (1980)Advanced Bacterial Genetics (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press), ColdSpring Harbor, N.Y.; and the references cited therein.

Suitable host cells, where the pesticidal protein-containing cells willbe treated to prolong the activity of the pesticidal proteins in thecell when the treated cell is applied to the environment of the targetpest(s), may include either prokaryotes or eukaryotes, normally beinglimited to those cells that do not produce substances toxic to higherorganisms, such as mammals. However, organisms that produce substancestoxic to higher organisms could be used, where the toxin is unstable orthe level of application sufficiently low as to avoid any possibility oftoxicity to a mammalian host. As hosts, of particular interest will bethe prokaryotes and the lower eukaryotes, such as fungi. Illustrativeprokaryotes, both Gram-negative and gram-positive, includeEnterobacteriaceae, such as Escherichia, Erwinia, Shigella, Salmonella,and Proteus; Bacillaceae; Rhizobiceae, such as Rhizobium; Spirillaceae,such as photobacterium, Zymomonas, Serratia, Aeromonas, Vibrio,Desulfovibrio, Spirillum; Lactobacillaceae; Pseudomonadaceae, such asPseudomonas and Acetobacter; Azotobacteraceae and Nitrobacteraceae.Among eukaryotes are fungi, such as Phycomycetes and Ascomycetes, whichincludes yeast, such as Saccharomyces and Schizosaccharomyces; andBasidiomycetes yeast, such as Rhodotorula, Aureobasidium,Sporobolomyces, and the like.

Characteristics of particular interest in selecting a host cell forpurposes of pesticidal protein production include ease of introducingthe pesticidal protein gene into the host, availability of expressionsystems, efficiency of expression, stability of the protein in the host,and the presence of auxiliary genetic capabilities. Characteristics ofinterest for use as a pesticide microcapsule include protectivequalities for the pesticide, such as thick cell walls, pigmentation, andintracellular packaging or formation of inclusion bodies; leaf affinity;lack of mammalian toxicity; attractiveness to pests for ingestion; easeof killing and fixing without damage to the toxin; and the like. Otherconsiderations include ease of formulation and handling, economics,storage stability, and the like.

Host organisms of particular interest include yeast, such as Rhodotorulaspp., Aureobasidium spp., Saccharomyces spp., and Sporobolomyces spp.,phylloplane organisms such as Pseudomonas spp., Erwinia spp., andFlavobacterium spp., and other such organisms, including Pseudomonasaeruginosa, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Bacillusthuringiensis, Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, and the like.

Genes encoding the pesticidal proteins of the invention can beintroduced into microorganisms that multiply on plants (epiphytes) todeliver pesticidal proteins to potential target pests. Epiphytes, forexample, can be gram-positive or gram-negative bacteria.

Root-colonizing bacteria, for example, can be isolated from the plant ofinterest by methods known in the art. Specifically, a Bacillus cereusstrain that colonizes roots can be isolated from roots of a plant (see,for example, Handelsman et al. (1991) Appl. Environ. Microbiol.56:713-718). Genes encoding the pesticidal proteins of the invention canbe introduced into a root-colonizing Bacillus cereus by standard methodsknown in the art.

Genes encoding pesticidal proteins can be introduced, for example, intothe root-colonizing Bacillus by means of electrotransformation.Specifically, genes encoding the pesticidal proteins can be cloned intoa shuttle vector, for example, pHT3101 (Lerecius et al. (1989) FEMSMicrobiol. Letts. 60: 211-218. The shuttle vector pHT3101 containing thecoding sequence for the particular pesticidal protein gene can, forexample, be transformed into the root-colonizing Bacillus by means ofelectroporation (Lerecius et al. (1989) FEMS Microbiol. Letts. 60:211-218).

Expression systems can be designed so that pesticidal proteins aresecreted outside the cytoplasm of gram-negative bacteria, such as E.coli, for example. Advantages of having pesticidal proteins secretedare: (1) avoidance of potential cytotoxic effects of the pesticidalprotein expressed; and (2) improvement in the efficiency of purificationof the pesticidal protein, including, but not limited to, increasedefficiency in the recovery and purification of the protein per volumecell broth and decreased time and/or costs of recovery and purificationper unit protein.

Pesticidal proteins can be made to be secreted in E. coli, for example,by fusing an appropriate E. coli signal peptide to the amino-terminalend of the pesticidal protein. Signal peptides recognized by E. coli canbe found in proteins already known to be secreted in E. coli, forexample the OmpA protein (Ghrayeb et al. (1984) EMBO J, 3:2437-2442).OmpA is a major protein of the E. coli outer membrane, and thus itssignal peptide is thought to be efficient in the translocation process.Also, the OmpA signal peptide does not need to be modified beforeprocessing as may be the case for other signal peptides, for examplelipoprotein signal peptide (Duffaud et al. (1987) Meth. Enzymol. 153:492).

Pesticidal proteins of the invention can be fermented in a bacterialhost and the resulting bacteria processed and used as a microbial sprayin the same manner that Bacillus thuringiensis strains have been used asinsecticidal sprays. In the case of a pesticidal protein(s) that issecreted from Bacillus, the secretion signal is removed or mutated usingprocedures known in the art. Such mutations and/or deletions preventsecretion of the pesticidal protein(s) into the growth medium during thefermentation process. The pesticidal proteins are retained within thecell, and the cells are then processed to yield the encapsulatedpesticidal proteins. Any suitable microorganism can be used for thispurpose. Pseudomonas has been used to express Bacillus thuringiensisendotoxins as encapsulated proteins and the resulting cells processedand sprayed as an insecticide (Gaertner et al. (1993), in: AdvancedEngineered Pesticides, ed. Kim).

Alternatively, the pesticidal proteins are produced by introducing aheterologous gene into a cellular host. Expression of the heterologousgene results, directly or indirectly, in the intracellular productionand maintenance of the pesticide. These cells are then treated underconditions that prolong the activity of the toxin produced in the cellwhen the cell is applied to the environment of target pest(s). Theresulting product retains the toxicity of the toxin. These naturallyencapsulated pesticidal proteins may then be formulated in accordancewith conventional techniques for application to the environment hostinga target pest, e.g., soil, water, and foliage of plants. See, forexample EPA 0192319, and the references cited therein.

In the present invention, a transformed microorganism (which includeswhole organisms, cells, spore(s), pesticidal protein(s), pesticidalcomponent(s), pest-impacting component(s), mutant(s), living or deadcells and cell components, including mixtures of living and dead cellsand cell components, and including broken cells and cell components) oran isolated pesticidal protein can be formulated with an acceptablecarrier into a pesticidal composition(s) that is, for example, asuspension, a solution, an emulsion, a dusting powder, a dispersiblegranule, a wettable powder, and an emulsifiable concentrate, an aerosol,an impregnated granule, an adjuvant, a coatable paste, and alsoencapsulations in, for example, polymer substances.

Such compositions disclosed above may be obtained by the addition of asurface-active agent, an inert carrier, a preservative, a humectant, afeeding stimulant, an attractant, an encapsulating agent, a binder, anemulsifier, a dye, a UV protectant, a buffer, a flow agent orfertilizers, micronutrient donors, or other preparations that influenceplant growth. One or more agrochemicals including, but not limited to,herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, bactericides, nematicides,molluscicides, acaracides, plant growth regulators, harvest aids, andfertilizers, can be combined with carriers, surfactants or adjuvantscustomarily employed in the art of formulation or other components tofacilitate product handling and application for particular target pests.Suitable carriers and adjuvants can be solid or liquid and correspond tothe substances ordinarily employed in formulation technology, e.g.,natural or regenerated mineral substances, solvents, dispersants,wetting agents, tackifiers, binders, or fertilizers. The activeingredients of the present invention are normally applied in the form ofcompositions and can be applied to the crop area, plant, or seed to betreated. For example, the compositions of the present invention may beapplied to grain in preparation for or during storage in a grain bin orsilo, etc. The compositions of the present invention may be appliedsimultaneously or in succession with other compounds. Methods ofapplying an active ingredient of the present invention or anagrochemical composition of the present invention that contains at leastone of the pesticidal proteins produced by the bacterial strains of thepresent invention include, but are not limited to, foliar application,seed coating, and soil application. The number of applications and therate of application depend on the intensity of infestation by thecorresponding pest.

Suitable surface-active agents include, but are not limited to, anioniccompounds such as a carboxylate of, for example, a metal; a carboxylateof a long chain fatty acid; an N-acylsarcosinate; mono or di-esters ofphosphoric acid with fatty alcohol ethoxylates or salts of such esters;fatty alcohol sulfates such as sodium dodecyl sulfate, sodium octadecylsulfate or sodium cetyl sulfate; ethoxylated fatty alcohol sulfates;ethoxylated alkylphenol sulfates; lignin sulfonates; petroleumsulfonates; alkyl aryl sulfonates such as alkyl-benzene sulfonates orlower alkylnaphtalene sulfonates, e.g., butyl-naphthalene sulfonate;salts of sulfonated naphthalene-formaldehyde condensates; salts ofsulfonated phenol-formaldehyde condensates; more complex sulfonates suchas the amide sulfonates, e.g., the sulfonated condensation product ofoleic acid and N-methyl taurine; or the dialkyl sulfosuccinates, e.g.,the sodium sulfonate of dioctyl succinate. Non-ionic agents includecondensation products of fatty acid esters, fatty alcohols, fatty acidamides or fatty-alkyl- or alkenyl-substituted phenols with ethyleneoxide, fatty esters of polyhydric alcohol ethers, e.g., sorbitan fattyacid esters, condensation products of such esters with ethylene oxide,e.g., polyoxyethylene sorbitar fatty acid esters, block copolymers ofethylene oxide and propylene oxide, acetylenic glycols such as2,4,7,9-tetraethyl-5-decyn-4,7-diol, or ethoxylated acetylenic glycols.Examples of a cationic surface-active agent include, for instance, analiphatic mono-, di-, or polyamine such as an acetate, naphthenate oroleate; or oxygen-containing amine such as an amine oxide ofpolyoxyethylene alkylamine; an amide-linked amine prepared by thecondensation of a carboxylic acid with a di- or polyamine; or aquaternary ammonium salt.

Examples of inert materials include but are not limited to inorganicminerals such as kaolin, phyllosilicates, carbonates, sulfates,phosphates, or botanical materials such as cork, powdered corncobs,peanut hulls, rice hulls, and walnut shells.

The compositions of the present invention can be in a suitable form fordirect application or as a concentrate of primary composition thatrequires dilution with a suitable quantity of water or other diluantbefore application. The pesticidal concentration will vary dependingupon the nature of the particular formulation, specifically, whether itis a concentrate or to be used directly. The composition contains 1 to98% of a solid or liquid inert carrier, and 0 to 50% or 0.1 to 50% of asurfactant. These compositions will be administered at the labeled ratefor the commercial product, for example, about 0.01 lb-5.0 lb. per acrewhen in dry form and at about 0.01 pts.-10 pts. per acre when in liquidform.

In a further embodiment, the compositions, as well as the transformedmicroorganisms and pesticidal proteins, of the invention can be treatedprior to formulation to prolong the pesticidal activity when applied tothe environment of a target pest as long as the pretreatment is notdeleterious to the pesticidal activity. Such treatment can be bychemical and/or physical means as long as the treatment does notdeleteriously affect the properties of the composition(s). Examples ofchemical reagents include but are not limited to halogenating agents;aldehydes such as formaldehyde and glutaraldehyde; anti-infectives, suchas zephiran chloride; alcohols, such as isopropanol and ethanol; andhistological fixatives, such as Bouin's fixative and Helly's fixative(see, for example, Humason (1967) Animal Tissue Techniques (W.H. Freemanand Co.).

In other embodiments of the invention, it may be advantageous to treatthe Cry9 family polypeptides with a protease, for example trypsin, toactivate the protein prior to application of a pesticidal proteincomposition of the invention to the environment of the target pest.Methods for the activation of protoxin by a serine protease are wellknown in the art. See, for example, Cooksey (1968) Biochem. J. 6:445-454and Carroll and Ellar (1989) Biochem. J. 261:99-105, the teachings ofwhich are herein incorporated by reference. For example, a suitableactivation protocol includes, but is not limited to, combining apolypeptide to be activated, for example a purified cry9_rv1 polypeptide(e.g., having the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:2), andtrypsin at a 1/100 weight ratio of cry9_rv1 protein/trypsin in 20 nMNaHCO₃, pH 8 and digesting the sample at 36° C. for 3 hours.

The compositions (including the transformed microorganisms andpesticidal proteins of the invention) can be applied to the environmentof an insect pest by, for example, spraying, atomizing, dusting,scattering, coating or pouring, introducing into or on the soil,introducing into irrigation water, by seed treatment or generalapplication or dusting at the time when the pest has begun to appear orbefore the appearance of pests as a protective measure. For example, thepesticidal protein and/or transformed microorganisms of the inventionmay be mixed with grain to protect the grain during storage. It isgenerally important to obtain good control of pests in the early stagesof plant growth, as this is the time when the plant can be most severelydamaged. The compositions of the invention can conveniently containanother insecticide if this is thought necessary. In an embodiment ofthe invention, the composition is applied directly to the soil, at atime of planting, in granular form of a composition of a carrier anddead cells of a Bacillus strain or transformed microorganism of theinvention. Another embodiment is a granular form of a compositioncomprising an agrochemical such as, for example, an herbicide, aninsecticide, a fertilizer, an inert carrier, and dead cells of aBacillus strain or transformed microorganism of the invention.

The embodiments of the present invention may be effective against avariety of pests. For purposes of the present invention, pests include,but are not limited to, insects, fungi, bacteria, nematodes, acarids,protozoan pathogens, animal-parasitic liver flukes, and the like. Pestsof particular interest are insect pests, particularly insect pests thatcause significant damage to agricultural plants. The term “insect pests”as used herein refers to insects and other similar pests such as, forexample, those of the order Acari including, but not limited to, mitesand ticks. Insect pests of the present invention include, but are notlimited to, insects of the order Lepidoptera, e.g. Achoroia grisella,Acleris gloverana, Acleris variana, Adoxophyes orana, Agrotis ipsilon,Alabama argillacea, Alsophila pometaria, Amyelois transitella, Anagastakuehniella, Anarsia lineatella, Anisota senatoria, Antheraea pernyi,Anticarsia gemmatalis, Archips sp., Argyrotaenia sp., Athetis mindara,Bombyx mori, Bucculatrix thurberiella, Cadra cautella, Choristoneurasp., Cochylls hospes, Colias eurytheme, Corcyra cephalonica, Cydialatiferreanus, Cydia pomonella, Datana integerrima, Dendrolimussibericus, Desmia feneralis, Diaphania hyalinata, Diaphania nitidalis,Diatraea grandiosella, Diatraea saccharalis, Ennomos subsignaria,Eoreuma loftini, Esphestia elutella, Erannis tilaria, Estigmene acrea,Eulia salubricola, Eupocoellia ambiguella, Eupoecilia ambiguella,Euproctis chrysorrhoea, Euxoa messoria, Galleria mellonella, Grapholitamolesta, Harrisina americana, Helicoverpa subflexa, Helicoverpa zea,Heliothis virescens, Hemileuca oliviae, Homoeosoma electellum, Hyphantiacunea, Keiferia lycopersicella, Lambdina fiscellaria fiscellaria,Lambdina fiscellaria lugubrosa, Leucoma salicis, Lobesia botrana,Loxostege sticticalis, Lymantria dispar, Macalla thyrisalis, Malacosomasp., Mamestra brassicae, Mamestra configurata, Manduca quinquemaculata,Manduca sexta, Maruca testulalis, Melanchra picta, Operophtera brumata,Orgyia sp., Ostrinia nubilalis, Paleacrita vernata, Papilio cresphontes,Pectinophora gossypiella, Phryganidia californica, Phyllonorycterblancardella, Pieris napi, Pieris rapae, Plathypena scabra, Platynotaflouendana, Platynota stultana, Platyptilia carduidactyla, Plodiainterpunctella, Plutella xylostella, Pontia protodice, Pseudaletiaunipuncta, Pseudoplasia includens, Sabulodes aegrotata, Schizuraconcinna, Sitotroga cerealella, Spilonta ocellana, Spodoptera sp.,Thaurnstopoea pityocampa, Tinsola bisselliella, Trichoplusia hi, Udearubigalis, Xylomyges curiails, and Yponomeuta padella.

Also, the embodiments of the present invention may be effective againstinsect pests, including but not limited to insects selected from theorders Diptera, Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, Mallophaga, Homoptera,Hemiptera, Orthroptera, Thysanoptera, Dermaptera, Isoptera, Anoplura,Siphonaptera, Trichoptera, Coleoptera, etc., particularly Lepidoptera.Insect pests of the invention for the major crops include, but are notlimited to: Maize: Ostrinia nubilalis, European corn borer; Agrotisipsilon, black cutworm; Helicoverpa zeae, corn earworm; Spodopterafrugiperda, fall armyworm; Diatraea grandiosella, southwestern cornborer; Elasmopalpus lignosellus, lesser cornstalk borer; Diatraeasaccharalis, surgarcane borer; western corn rootworm, e.g., Diabroticavirgifera virgifera; northern corn rootworm, e.g., Diabroticalongicornis barberi; southern corn rootworm, e.g., Diabroticaundecimpunctata howardi; Melanotus spp., wireworms; Cyclocephalaborealis, northern masked chafer (white grub); Cyclocephala immaculata,southern masked chafer (white grub); Popillia japonica, Japanese beetle;Chaetocnema pulicaria, corn flea beetle; Sphenophorus maidis, maizebillbug; Rhopalosiphum maidis, corn leaf aphid; Anuraphis maidiradicis,corn root aphid; Blissus leucopterus leucopterus, chinch bug; Melanoplusfemurrubrum, redlegged grasshopper; Melanoplus sanguinipes, migratorygrasshopper; Hylemya platura, seedcorn maggot; Agromyza parvicornis,corn blotch leafininer; Anaphothrips obscrurus, grass thrips; Solenopsismilesta, thief ant; Tetranychus urticae, two spotted spider mite;Sorghum: Chilo partellus, sorghum borer; Spodoptera frugiperda, fallarmyworm; Helicoverpa zea, corn earworm; Elasmopalpus lignosellus, lesercornstalk borer; Feltia subterranea, granulate cutworm; Phyllophagacrinita, white grub; Eleodes, Conoderus, and Aeolus spp., wireworms;Oulema melanopus, cereal leaf beetle; Chaetocnema pulicaria, corn fleabeetle; Sphenophorus maidis, maize billbug; Rhopalosiphum maidis; cornleaf aphid; Sipha flava, yellow sugarcane aphid; chinch bug, e.g.,Blissus leucopterus leucopterus; Contarinia sorghicola, sorghum midge;Tetranychus cinnabarinus, carmine spider mite; Tetranychus urticae,two-spotted spider mite; Wheat: Pseudaletia unipunctata, army worm;Spodoptera frugiperda, fall armyworm; Elasmopalpus lignosellus, lessercornstalk borer; Agrotis orthogonia, pale western cutworm; Elasmopalpuslignosellus, lesser cornstalk borer; Oulema melanopus, cereal leafbeetle; Hypera punctata, clover leaf weevil; southern corn rootworm,e.g., Diabrotica undecimpunctata howardi; Russian wheat aphid;Schizaphis graminum, greenbug; Macrosiphum avenae, English grain aphid;Melanoplus femurrubrum, redlegged grasshopper; Melanoplusdifferentialis, differential grasshopper; Melanoplus sanguinipes,migratory grasshopper; Mayetiola destructor, Hessian fly; Sitodiplosismosellana, wheat midge; Meromyza americana, wheat stem maggot; Hylemyacoarctata, wheat bulb fly; Frankliniella fusca, tobacco thrips; Cephuscinctus, wheat stem sawfly; Aceria tulipae, wheat curl mite; Sunflower:Cylindrocupturus adspersus, sunflower stem weevil; Smicronyx fulus, redsunflower seed weevil; Smicronyx sordidus, gray sunflower seed weevil;Suleima helianthana, sunflower bud moth; Homoeosoma electellum,sunflower moth; Zygogramma exclamationis, sunflower beetle; Bothyrusgibbosus, carrot beetle; Neolasioptera murtfeldtiana, sunflower seedmidge; Cotton: Heliothis virescens, tobacco budworm; Helicoverpa zea,cotton bollworm; Spodoptera exigua, beet armyworm; Pectinophoragossypiella, pink bollworm; boll weevil, e.g., Anthonomus grandis; Aphisgossypii, cotton aphid; Pseudatomoscelis seriatus, cotton fleahopper;Trialeurodes abutilonea, bandedwinged whitefly; Lygus lineolaris,tarnished plant bug; Melanoplus femurrubrum, redlegged grasshopper;Melanoplus differentialis, differential grasshopper; Thrips tabaci,onion thrips; Franklinkiella fusca, tobacco thrips; Tetranychuscinnabarinus, carmine spider mite; Tetranychus urticae, two-spottedspider mite; Rice: Diatraea saccharalis, sugarcane borer; Spodopterafrugiperda, fall armyworm; Helicoverpa zea, corn earworm; Colaspisbrunnea, grape colaspis; Lissorhoptrus oryzophilus, rice water weevil;Sitophilus oryzae, rice weevil; Nephotettix nigropictus, rice leafhoper;chinch bug, e.g., Blissus leucopterus leucopterus; Acrosternum hilare,green stink bug; Soybean: Pseudoplusia includens, soybean looper;Anticarsia gemmatalis, velvetbean caterpillar; Plathypena scabra, greencloverworm; Ostrinia nubilalis, European corn borer; Agrotis ipsilon,black cutworm; Spodoptera exigua, beet armyworm; Heliothis virescens,tobacco budworm; Helicoverpa zea, cotton bollworm; Epilachna varivestis,Mexican bean beetle; Myzus persicae, green peach aphid; Empoasca fabae,potato leafhopper; Acrosternum hilare, green stink bug; Melanoplusfemurrubrum, redlegged grasshopper; Melanoplus differentialis,differential grasshopper; Hylemya platura, seedcorn maggot; Sericothripsvariabilis, soybean thrips; Thrips tabaci, onion thrips; Tetranychusturkestani, strawberry spider mite; Tetranychus urticae, two-spottedspider mite; Barley: Ostrinia nubilalis, European corn borer; Agrotisipsilon, black cutworm; Schizaphis graminum, greenbug; chinch bug, e.g.,Blissus leucopterus leucopterus; Acrosternum hilare, green stink bug;Euschistus servus, brown stink bug; Jylemya platura, seedcorn maggot;Mayetiola destructor, Hessian fly; Petrobia latens, brown wheat mite;Oil Seed Rape: Vrevicoryne brassicae, cabbage aphid; Phyllotretacruciferae, crucifer flea beetle; Phyllotreta striolata, striped fleabeetle; Phyllotreta nemorum, striped turnip flea beetle; Meligethesaeneus, rapeseed beetle; and the pollen beetles Meligethes rufimanus,Meligethes nigrescens, Meligethes canadianus, and Meligethesviridescens; Potato: Leptinotarsa decemlineata, Colorado potato beetle.

Furthermore, embodiments of the present invention may be effectiveagainst Hemiptera such as Lygus hesperus, Lygus lineolaris, Lyguspratensis, Lygus rugulipennis Popp, Lygus pabulinus, Calocorisnorvegicus, Orthops compestris, Plesiocoris rugicollis, Cyrtopeltismodestus, Cyrtopeltis notatus, Spanagonicus albofasciatus, Diaphnocorischlorinonis, Labopidicola allii, Pseudatomoscelis seriatus, Adelphocorisrapidus, Poecilocapsus lineatus, Blissus leucopterus, Nysius ericae,Nysius raphanus, Euschistus servus, Nezara viridula, Eurygaster,Coreidae, Pyrrhocoridae, Tinidae, Blostomatidae, Reduviidae, andCimicidae. Pests of interest also include Araecerus fasciculatus, coffeebean weevil; Acanthoscelides obtectus, bean weevil; Bruchus rufimanus,broadbean weevil; Bruchus pisorum, pea weevil; Zabrotes subfasciatus,Mexican bean weevil; Diabrotica balteata, banded cucumber beetle;Cerotoma trifurcata, bean leaf beetle; Diabrotica virgifera, Mexicancorn rootworm; Epitrix cucumeris, potato flea beetle; Chaetocnemaconfinis, sweet potato flea beetle; Hypera postica, alfalfa weevil;Anthonomus quadrigibbus, apple curculio; Sternechus paludatus, beanstalk weevil; Hypera brunnipennis, Egyptian alfalfa weevil; Sitophilusgranaries, granary weevil; Craponius inaequalis, grape curculio;Sitophilus zeamais, maize weevil; Conotrachelus nenuphar, plum curculio;Euscepes postfaciatus, West Indian sweet potato weevil; Maladeracastanea, Asiatic garden beetle; Rhizotrogus majalis, European chafer;Macrodactylus subspinosus, rose chafer; Tribolium confusum, confusedflour beetle; Tenebrio obscurus, dark mealworm; Tribolium castaneum, redflour beetle; Tenebrio molitor, yellow mealworm.

Nematodes include parasitic nematodes such as root-knot, cyst, andlesion nematodes, including Heterodera spp., Meloidogyne spp., andGlobodera spp.; particularly members of the cyst nematodes, including,but not limited to, Heterodera glycines (soybean cyst nematode);Heterodera schachtii (beet cyst nematode); Heterodera avenae (cerealcyst nematode); and Globodera rostochiensis and Globodera pailida(potato cyst nematodes). Lesion nematodes include Pratylenchus spp.

Insect pests may be tested for pesticidal activity of compositions ofthe invention in early developmental stages, e.g., as larvae or otherimmature forms. The insects may be reared in total darkness at fromabout 20° C. to about 30° C. and from about 30% to about 70% relativehumidity. Bioassays may be performed as described in Czapla and Lang(1990) J. Econ. Entomol. 83(6): 2480-2485. Methods of rearing insectlarvae and performing bioassays are well known to one of ordinary skillin the art.

A wide variety of bioassay techniques are known to one skilled in theart. General procedures include addition of the experimental compound ororganism to the diet source in an enclosed container. Pesticidalactivity can be measured by, but is not limited to, changes inmortality, weight loss, attraction, repellency and other behavioral andphysical changes after feeding and exposure for an appropriate length oftime. Bioassays described herein can be used with any feeding insectpest in the larval or adult stage.

The following examples are presented by way of illustration, not by wayof limitation.

EXPERIMENTAL Example 1 Bioassay for Testing the Pesticidal Activity ofB. thuringiensis Strains Against European Corn Borer

Insect diets for European corn borer (“ECB,” e.g., Ostrinia nubilalis)were employed; many are known in the art. See, for example, Singh andMoore, eds. (1985) Handbook of Insect Rearing, vol. 1 (Elsevier, NewYork, N.Y.), herein incorporated by reference.

Bacillus colonies were selected from a fresh plate and used to inoculate25 mL of either C2 or T3 media, further described in detail below. Thesecultures were grown at 28° C. for 6 days and checked for sporulation.Sporulated cultures were spun at 10,000×g for 15 minutes and thesupernatant was removed. The pellet was resuspended in 2.5 mL of 50 mMsodium carbonate, 10 mM DTT, and stored at 4° C. overnight. Insectbioassays were conducted to determine the presence of compounds havingpesticidal activity. Bioassays were carried out in 96 well microtiterplates where each well contained 200 μL insect diet. 25 μL samples weretopically applied to the diet surface per well. Once the samples dried,individual wells were infested with eggs (approximately 10 eggs/well).Assay trays were sealed to prevent larval escape and placed in a growthchamber (27° C.) for 5 days. Each 96-well plate contained assay samplesplus appropriate controls. Each sample was replicated four times onindividual plates. Samples were evaluated for their ability to kill orstunt insect larvae.

TABLE 1 T3 Dissolved Activated Insect crystal crystal Corn earworm − −European corn borer + + Fall armyworm − N/D Western corn rootworm − − += all larvae dead − = all larvae apparently normal

Secondary assays were then performed to confirm the activity anddetermine whether it was heat labile. Heated samples were placed in aboiling water bath for 40 minutes, allowed to cool, and bioassayed aspreviously described. Results were as follows:

TABLE 2 T3 Dissolved Activated crystal crystal Insect No Δ Δ No Δ Δ CEW− − − − ECB + − + − + = all larvae dead − = all larvae apparently normal

The digestibility of the crystal protein produced by bacterial strain DP1019 was assessed. Crystal protein from strain DP 1019 was incubated insimulated gastric fluid for various amounts of time at 37° C. Simulatedgastric fluid (SGF) consists of 0.016% (weight/volume) pepsin, 2 mg/mlNaCl, and 63 mM HCl (pH 1.2)). See Astwood and Fuchs (1996) Food Tech.50: 83-88; and Fu and Abbot (2002) Agric. Food Chem. 50: 7154-7160. SGFwas prepared on the day of the experiment, and the ratio of DP 1019crystal protein to pepsin was 1:32 (weight:weight). The incubation wasstopped by adding LDS sample buffer (see Sambrook II) with reducingagent β-mercaptoethanol and heating for 5 minutes at 100° C. Sampleswere then analyzed using SDS-PAGE (results shown in FIG. 2). The gelanalysis showed that full-length 1019 crystal protein (110 kDa) wasdegraded to a 62 kDa fragment, which was degraded within one minute.Thus, DP 1019 crystal protein is highly susceptible to degradation bysimulated gastric fluid.

Media: T3 media contains the following, per liter: 3 g tryptone (whichis the pancreatic digest of casein); 2 g tryptose (which is the mixtureof enzymatically digested proteins); 1.5 g yeast extract; and 0.005 g ofMgCl₂. To prepare T3 media, these powders are diluted with 0.05 M sodiumphosphate buffer (pH 6.8) and autoclaved on liquid cycle for 15 minutesto sterilize. C2 media contains the following, per liter: 10.0 gglucose; 2.0 g peptone; 5.0 g casamino acids; 0.247 g MgCl₂; 2.0 g yeastextract; 0.058 g MnCl₂.4H₂O; 0.1 g CaCl₂; 0.005 g ZnSO₄.7H₂O; 0.005 gCaSO₄.7H₂O; 1.619 g NH₄Cl; 0.005 g FeSO₄.7H₂O; 4.66 g K₂HPO₄; and 3.11 gKH₂PO₄. To prepare C2 media, these powders are diluted with distilledwater, filtered through a 0.22 μm filter to sterilize (not autoclaved)and stored at 4° C.

Example 2 Isolation and Assay of Pesticidal Proteins

Based on the results of the experiments described in Example 1,large-scale cultures of bacillus DP 1019 were grown for proteinpurification. The crystal proteins were purified (see Kronstad et al.(1983) J. Bact. 154: 419-428) and evaluated on an SDS-PAGE gel, whichrevealed that only two major bands were present in the crystal fraction.Standard chromatographic procedures, including ion exchangechromatography and gel filtration, both well known in the art, were usedto further purify the proteins and determine which fraction containedthe pesticidal protein. The active fractions were separated on anSDS-PAGE gel and transferred to PVDF. The bands were then excised forN-terminal sequencing.

The purified proteins were sequenced, and both fractions contained theamino acid sequence XINPNLSINTXDVLQTGITIVGXVL (SEQ ID NO: 7). This aminoacid sequence was used to search sequence databases, and these searchesrevealed that the protein was related to the Cry9 protein family.Sequences of Cry9 family members were aligned and primers were designedto amplify the nucleotide sequence encoding this protein. Primer set 1included a forward primer having the sequence GAGATGTACTACAAACAGG (SEQID NO: 8) and a reverse primer having the sequence CCATCCCTTGTACGTGTAAAC(SEQ ID NO: 9). These primers were used to amplify a PCR product ofapproximately 2 kb from the DP 1019 plasmid DNA. The PCR product wascloned into a pCR-blunt vector and sequenced, yielding the nucleotidesequence designated “cry9_rv1” and set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1.

A second PCR reaction was performed using a second set of primers,including a forward primer having the sequenceGGATCCATGAATCGAAATAATCAAAATG (SEQ ID NO: 10) and a reverse primer havingthe sequence CTCGAGCTGTAATCCGTCCCTTGTACGTGTAAAC (SEQ ID NO: 11). Thisreaction produced a PCR product approximately 2 kb in length, which wasalso cloned into the pCR-blunt vector and sequenced. At least twospecies of molecule were produced by this PCR reaction, which yieldedthe nucleotide sequence designated “cry9_rv2,” set forth in SEQ ID NO:3, and the nucleotide sequence designated “cry9d_rv1,” set forth in SEQID NO: 5. The cry9_rv2 sequence contains the entire sequence of cy9_rv1and also includes an N-terminal region with an ATG codon.

The toxin domain of both genes was cloned into a pET28 vector forprotein expression. The pET28 vector includes an ATG codon in frame withsequences encoding His and T7 tags so that these tags are produced aspart of a fusion protein with the protein encoded by the insertednucleotide sequences. Thus, the cry9_rv2 protein was expressed as afusion protein from the pET28 vector as follows.

Bacterial colonies from strain 1019 were spotted on replica plates andinoculated in 5 ml of 2×YT broth with 500 μl/1000 ml kanamycin. Thecultures were allowed to overnight. If no growth was present, the tubeswere incubated for an additional 24 hours. Following incubation, thetubes were centrifuged at 3500 rpm for 5-8 minutes. The supernatant wasdiscarded and the pellet resuspended in 1000 μl PBS. The sample was thentransferred to 1.5 ml Eppendorf tubes and incubated on ice until thetemperature was 3 to 4° C., followed by sonication for 12-15 seconds.

The fusion protein was then purified as follows. The expressed,N-terminal-His-tagged, truncated Cry9 family proteins were isolated fromE. coli lysates by affinity chromatography using a nickel affinitycolumn. The column fractions with the protein of interest were dialyzedextensively against 10 mM Tris-HCl (pH 8.5) and then concentrated usingCentriprep® (Millipore Corp.) centrifugal filter units with a MW cutoffof 10,000 according to the manufacturer's directions. The concentratedCry9 family protein samples were tested for the presence of pesticidalactivity against European corn borer as described in Example 1.

The bioassays were then scored for mortality and the results were asfollows:

TABLE 3 Toxin concentration Mortality (μg/cm²) Dead Moribund StuntedHealthy Total (%) 9 32 4 1 37 86 4.5 34 7 41 83 2.25 23 1 6 30 77 1.1257 18 1 26 27 0.5625 4 1 15 1 21 19 0.2813 1 15 15 31 3 0.1406 20 5 25 00.0703 17 14 31 0 0.0352 4 11 10 25 16

Thus, these results demonstrate the pesticidal activity of cry9_rv2protein against European corn borer larvae.

Example 3 Determination of LC₅₀ Using ECB Incorporated Assays

Insect diets for European corn borer (“ECB,” e.g., Ostrinia nubilalis)were employed; many are known in the art. See, for example, Singh andMoore, eds. (1985) Handbook of Insect Rearing, vol. 1 (Elsevier, NewYork, N.Y.), herein incorporated by reference. For use in the ECBIncorporated Assays, diet was prepared with a reduced amount of water toallow for the addition of protein compounds to make up the final volumeof diet. For example, if a 500 μl sample was to be added to 3500 μl ofartificial diet, the amount of water added to the diet was reduced toallow for the addition of the sample so that the final volume remainedthe same (e.g., see calculations in Table 4 below).

TABLE 4 Formulation of Diet Protein Concentration (mg/ml): 1.00 TotalFinal vol Sample + Rate protein Stock Buffer sample Diet (ppm) (ug) (ul)(ul) (ul) Diet (ul) vol (ul) 150.00 600.00 600.00 −100.00 500 3500 4000100.00 400.00 400.00 100.00 500 3500 4000 75.00 300.00 300.00 200.00 5003500 4000 50.00 200.00 200.00 300.00 500 3500 4000 37.50 150.00 150.00350.00 500 3500 4000 25.00 100.00 100.00 400.00 500 3500 4000 18.7575.00 75.00 425.00 500 3500 4000 12.50 50.00 50.00 450.00 500 3500 40006.25 25.00 25.00 475.00 500 3500 4000 3.13 12.50 12.50 487.50 500 35004000 1.56 6.24 6.24 493.76 500 3500 4000 0.00 0.00 0.00 500.00 500 35004000 Totals 1918.74 1918.74 4081.26

The artificial diet was placed in a beaker on a heating plate whilestirring. Artificial diet was then placed in a 50-ml conical tube andcooled to 40° C. prior to addition of the protein sample. After additionof the sample, the diet was mixed well and 240 μl of diet was placedinto individual wells of a 96-well plate. The artificial diet wasallowed to cool and harden. If necessary, the diet was dried under aventilation hood for 10-15 minutes. The surface of the diet wasmonitored carefully to prevent overdrying.

Each well was infested with 1-3 larvae per well, depending on theparticular assay. The plates were heat-sealed with Mylar film to preventinsect escape and yet allow for adequate ventilation. The plates wereincubated for the desired duration (usually about 6 days) and then theinsects were evaluated for survival and weight.

These assays were used to determine the LC₅₀ of Cry9 family toxins. Foreach toxin, samples were tested at the following concentrations:

TABLE 5 Concentrations Tested sample toxin concentration (ppm) 1 100 275 3 50 4 37.5 5 25 6 18.75 7 12.5 8 6.25 9 3.13 10 1.56 11 0

For the LC₅₀ determination for the Cry9 family endotoxin having theamino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 4, each well was infestedwith one ECB neonate, for a total of 14 insects tested per treatment.The covered plates were placed in a small box to help reduce moistureloss and were incubated at 27° C. for 6 days. Each assay was scored formortality, and LC₅₀ was calculated using PROBIT analysis (SAS Institute)for each test as well as for the combination of 3 repetitions of thetest. These results were as follows:

TABLE 6 LC₅₀ determination using ECB incorporated assays for the Cry9Family Endotoxin of SEQ ID NO: 4 95% fiducial limits Reps LC₅₀ (lower)(upper) 1 11.62 8.2 15.6 2 23.1 18.8 27.9 3 19.7 15.6 24.4 Combined 17.314.9 19.9

For the LC₅₀ determination for the Cry9 family endotoxin having theamino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 6, each well was infestedwith one ECB neonate, for a total of 7 insects tested per treatment. Thecovered plates were placed in a small box to help reduce moisture lossand were incubated at 27° C. for 6 days. Each assay was scored formortality, and LC₅₀ was calculated using PROBIT analysis (SAS Institute)for each test as well as for the combination of 3 repetitions of thetest. These results were as follows:

TABLE 7 LC₅₀ determination using ECB incorporated assays for Cry9 FamilyEndotoxin of SEQ ID NO: 6 95% fiducial limits Reps LC₅₀ (lower) (upper)1 5.55 3.42 7.93 2 6.21 4.18 8.52 3 7.60 5.57 9.92 Combined 6.45 5.257.73

Example 4 Transformation of Maize by Particle Bombardment andRegeneration of Transgenic Plants

Immature maize embryos from greenhouse donor plants are bombarded with aDNA molecule containing the Cry9 family nucleotide sequence (e.g., SEQID NO: 5) operably linked to a ubiquitin promoter and the selectablemarker gene PAT (Wohlleben et al. (1988) Gene 70: 25-37), which confersresistance to the herbicide Bialaphos. Alternatively, the selectablemarker gene is provided on a separate DNA molecule. Transformation isperformed as follows. Media recipes follow below.

Preparation of Target Tissue

The ears are husked and surface sterilized in 30% Clorox™ bleach plus0.5% Micro detergent for 20 minutes, and rinsed two times with sterilewater. The immature embryos are excised and placed embryo axis side down(scutellum side up), 25 embryos per plate, on 560Y medium for 4 hoursand then aligned within the 2.5-cm target zone in preparation forbombardment.

Preparation of DNA

A plasmid vector comprising a Cry9 family nucleotide sequence (e.g., SEQID NO: 5) operably linked to a ubiquitin promoter is made. For example,a suitable transformation vector comprises a UBI1 promoter from Zeamays, a 5′ UTR from UBI1 and a UBI1 intron, in combination with a PinIIterminator. The vector additionally contains a PAT selectable markergene driven by a CAMV35S promoter and includes a CAMV35S terminator.Optionally, the selectable marker can reside on a separate plasmid. ADNA molecule comprising a Cry9-family nucleotide sequence as well as aPAT selectable marker is precipitated onto 1.1 μm (average diameter)tungsten pellets using a CaCl₂ precipitation procedure as follows:

-   -   100 μl prepared tungsten particles in water    -   10 μl (1 μg) DNA in Tris EDTA buffer (1 μg total DNA)    -   100 μl 2.5 M CaCl₂    -   10 μl 0.1 M spermidine

Each reagent is added sequentially to a tungsten particle suspension,while maintained on the multitube vortexer. The final mixture issonicated briefly and allowed to incubate under constant vortexing for10 minutes. After the precipitation period, the tubes are centrifugedbriefly, liquid removed, washed with 500 ml 100% ethanol, andcentrifuged for 30 seconds. Again the liquid is removed, and 105 μl 100%ethanol is added to the final tungsten particle pellet. For particle gunbombardment, the tungsten/DNA particles are briefly sonicated and 10 μlspotted onto the center of each macrocarrier and allowed to dry about 2minutes before bombardment.

Particle Gun Treatment

The sample plates are bombarded at level #4 in particle gun #HE34-1 or#HE34-2. All samples receive a single shot at 650 PSI, with a total often aliquots taken from each tube of prepared particles/DNA.

Subsequent Treatment

Following bombardment, the embryos are kept on 560Y medium for 2 days,then transferred to 560R selection medium containing 3 mg/literBialaphos, and subcultured every 2 weeks. After approximately 10 weeksof selection, selection-resistant callus clones are transferred to 288Jmedium to initiate plant regeneration. Following somatic embryomaturation (2-4 weeks), well-developed somatic embryos are transferredto medium for germination and transferred to the lighted culture room.Approximately 7-10 days later, developing plantlets are transferred to272V hormone-free medium in tubes for 7-10 days until plantlets are wellestablished. Plants are then transferred to inserts in flats (equivalentto 2.5″ pot) containing potting soil and grown for 1 week in a growthchamber, subsequently grown an additional 1-2 weeks in the greenhouse,then transferred to classic 600 pots (1.6 gallon) and grown to maturity.Plants are monitored and scored for expression of the Cry9 familyprotein by assays known in the art or as described above.

Bombardment and Culture Media

Bombardment medium (560Y) comprises 4.0 g/l N6 basal salts (SIGMAC-1416), 1.0 ml/l Eriksson's Vitamin Mix (1000× SIGMA-1511), 0.5 mg/lthiamine HCl, 120.0 g/l sucrose, 1.0 mg/l 2,4-D, and 2.88 g/l L-proline(brought to volume with dI H₂0 following adjustment to pH 5.8 with KOH);2.0 g/l Gelrite™ (added after bringing to volume with dI H₂0); and 8.5mg/1-silver nitrate (added after sterilizing the medium and cooling toroom temperature). Selection medium (560R) comprises 4.0 g/l N6 basalsalts (SIGMA C-1416), 1.0 ml/l Eriksson's Vitamin Mix (1000×SIGMA-1511), 0.5 mg/l thiamine HCl, 30.0 g/l sucrose, and 2.0 mg/l 2,4-D(brought to volume with dI H₂0 following adjustment to pH 5.8 with KOH);3.0 g/l Gelrite™ (added after bringing to volume with dI H₂0); and 0.85mg/l silver nitrate and 3.0 mg/l Bialaphos (both added after sterilizingthe medium and cooling to room temperature).

Plant regeneration medium (288J) comprises 4.3 g/l MS salts (GIBCO11117-074), 5.0 ml/l MS vitamins stock solution (0.100 g nicotinic acid,0.02 g/l thiamine HCl, 0.10 g/l pyridoxine HCl, and 0.40 g/l Glycinebrought to volume with polished D-I H₂0) (Murashige and Skoog (1962)Physiol. Plant. 15: 473), 100 mg/l myo-inositol, 0.5 mg/l zeatin, 60 g/lsucrose, and 1.0 ml/l of 0.1 mM abscisic acid (brought to volume withpolished dI H₂0 after adjusting to pH 5.6); 3.0 g/l Gelrite™ (addedafter bringing to volume with dI H₂0); and 1.0 mg/l indoleacetic acidand 3.0 mg/l Bialaphos (added after sterilizing the medium and coolingto 60° C.).

Hormone-free medium (272V) comprises 4.3 g/l MS salts (GIBCO 11117-074),5.0 ml/l MS vitamins stock solution (0.100 g/l nicotinic acid, 0.02 g/lthiamine HCl, 0.10 g/l pyridoxine HCl, and 0.40 g/l Glycine brought tovolume with polished dI H₂0), 0.1 g/l myo-inositol, and 40.0 g/l sucrose(brought to volume with polished dI H₂0 after adjusting pH to 5.6); and6 g/l Bacto-agar (added after bringing to volume with polished dI H₂0),sterilized and cooled to 60° C.

Example 5 Agrobacterium-Mediated Transformation of Maize andRegeneration of Transgenic Plants

For Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of maize with a Cry9 familynucleotide sequence (e.g., SEQ ID NO: 3), the method of Zhao can be used(U.S. Pat. No. 5,981,840, and PCT patent publication WO98/32326; thecontents of which are hereby incorporated by reference). Briefly,immature embryos are isolated from maize and the embryos contacted witha suspension of Agrobacterium under conditions whereby the bacteria arecapable of transferring the Cry9 family nucleotide sequence (SEQ ID NO:3) to at least one cell of at least one of the immature embryos (step 1:the infection step). In this step the immature embryos can be immersedin an Agrobacterium suspension for the initiation of inoculation. Theembryos are co-cultured for a time with the Agrobacterium (step 2: theco-cultivation step). The immature embryos can be cultured on solidmedium following the infection step. Following this co-cultivationperiod an optional “resting” step is contemplated. In this resting step,the embryos are incubated in the presence of at least one antibioticknown to inhibit the growth of Agrobacterium without the addition of aselective agent for plant transformants (step 3: resting step). Theimmature embryos can be cultured on solid medium with antibiotic, butwithout a selecting agent, for elimination of Agrobacterium and for aresting phase for the infected cells. Next, inoculated embryos arecultured on medium containing a selective agent and growing transformedcallus is recovered (step 4: the selection step). The immature embryosare cultured on solid medium with a selective agent resulting in theselective growth of transformed cells. The callus is then regeneratedinto plants (step 5: the regeneration step), and calli grown onselective medium can be cultured on solid medium to regenerate theplants.

Example 6 Transformation of Soybean Embryos

Soybean embryos are bombarded with a plasmid containing the Cry9 familynucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 30 operably linked to a pinII promoteras follows. To induce somatic embryos, cotyledons, 3-5 mm in lengthdissected from surface-sterilized, immature seeds of the soybeancultivar A2872, are cultured in the light or dark at 26° C. on anappropriate agar medium for six to ten weeks. Somatic embryos producingsecondary embryos are then excised and placed into a suitable liquidmedium. After repeated selection for clusters of somatic embryos thatmultiplied as early, globular-staged embryos, the suspensions aremaintained as described below.

Soybean embryogenic suspension cultures can maintained in 35 ml liquidmedia on a rotary shaker, 150 rpm, at 26° C. with florescent lights on a16:8 hour day/night schedule. Cultures are subcultured every two weeksby inoculating approximately 35 mg of tissue into 35 ml of liquidmedium.

Soybean embryogenic suspension cultures may then be transformed by themethod of particle gun bombardment (Klein et al. (1987) Nature (London)327: 70-73, U.S. Pat. No. 4,945,050). A Du Pont Biolistic PDS1000/HEinstrument (helium retrofit) can be used for these transformations.

A selectable marker gene that can be used to facilitate soybeantransformation is a transgene composed of the 35S promoter fromCauliflower Mosaic Virus (Odell et al. (1985) Nature 313: 810-812), thehygromycin phosphotransferase gene from plasmid pJR225 (from E. coli;Gritz et al. (1983) Gene 25: 179-188), and the 3′ region of the nopalinesynthase gene from the T-DNA of the Ti plasmid of Agrobacteriumtumefaciens. The expression cassette comprising a Cry9 family nucleotidesequence (e.g., SEQ ID NO: 3) operably linked to the pinII promoter canbe isolated as a restriction fragment. This fragment can then beinserted into a unique restriction site of the vector carrying themarker gene.

To 50 μl of a 60 mg/ml 1 μm gold particle suspension is added (inorder): 5 μl DNA (1 μg/μl), 20 μl spermidine (0.1 M), and 50 μl CaCl₂(2.5 M). The particle preparation is then agitated for three minutes,spun in a microfuge for 10 seconds and the supernatant removed. TheDNA-coated particles are then washed once in 400 μl 70% ethanol andresuspended in 40 μl of anhydrous ethanol. The DNA/particle suspensioncan be sonicated three times for one second each. Five microliters ofthe DNA-coated gold particles are then loaded on each macro carrierdisk.

Approximately 300-400 mg of a two-week-old suspension culture is placedin an empty 60×15 mm petri dish and the residual liquid removed from thetissue with a pipette. For each transformation experiment, approximately5-10 plates of tissue are normally bombarded. Membrane rupture pressureis set at 1100 psi, and the chamber is evacuated to a vacuum of 28inches mercury. The tissue is placed approximately 3.5 inches away fromthe retaining screen and bombarded three times. Following bombardment,the tissue can be divided in half and placed back into liquid andcultured as described above.

Five to seven days post bombardment, the liquid media may be exchangedwith fresh media, and eleven to twelve days post-bombardment with freshmedia containing 50 mg/ml hygromycin. This selective media can berefreshed weekly. Seven to eight weeks post-bombardment, green,transformed tissue may be observed growing from untransformed, necroticembryogenic clusters. Isolated green tissue is removed and inoculatedinto individual flasks to generate new, clonally propagated, transformedembryogenic suspension cultures. Each new line may be treated as anindependent transformation event. These suspensions can then besubcultured and maintained as clusters of immature embryos orregenerated into whole plants by maturation and germination ofindividual somatic embryos.

Example 7 Transformation of Sunflower Meristem Tissue

Sunflower meristem tissues are transformed with an expression cassettecontaining a Cry9 family nucleotide sequence (e.g., SEQ ID NO: 30)operably linked to a wun1 promoter as follows (see also European PatentNumber EP 0 486233, herein incorporated by reference, andMalone-Schoneberg et al. (1994) Plant Science 103:199-207). Maturesunflower seed (Helianthus annuus L.) are dehulled using a singlewheat-head thresher. Seeds are surface sterilized for 30 minutes in a20% Clorox™ bleach solution with the addition of two drops of Tween™ 20per 50 ml of solution. The seeds are rinsed twice with sterile distilledwater.

Split embryonic axis explants are prepared by a modification ofprocedures described by Schrammeijer et al. (Schrammeijer et al. (1990)Plant Cell Rep. 9: 55-60). Seeds are imbibed in distilled water for 60minutes following the surface sterilization procedure. The cotyledons ofeach seed are then broken off, producing a clean fracture at the planeof the embryonic axis. Following excision of the root tip, the explantsare bisected longitudinally between the primordial leaves. The twohalves are placed, cut surface up, on GBA medium consisting of Murashigeand Skoog mineral elements (Murashige et al. (1962) Physiol. Plant. 15:473-497), Shepard's vitamin additions (Shepard (1980) in EmergentTechniques for the Genetic Improvement of Crops (University of MinnesotaPress, St. Paul, Minn.), 40 mg/l adenine sulfate, 30 g/l sucrose, 0.5mg/l 6-benzyl-aminopurine (BAP), 0.25 mg/l indole-3-acetic acid (IAA),0.1 mg/l gibberellic acid (GA3), pH 5.6, and 8 g/l Phytagar.

The explants are subjected to microprojectile bombardment prior toAgrobacterium treatment (Bidney et al. (1992) Plant Mol. Biol.18:301-313). Thirty to forty explants are placed in a circle at thecenter of a 60×20 mm plate for this treatment. Approximately 4.7 mg of1.8 mm tungsten microprojectiles are resuspended in 25 ml of sterile TEbuffer (10 mM Tris HCl, 1 mM EDTA, pH 8.0) and 1.5 ml aliquots are usedper bombardment. Each plate is bombarded twice through a 150 mm nytexscreen placed 2 cm above the samples in a PDS 1000® particleacceleration device.

Disarmed Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain EHA 105 is used in alltransformation experiments. A binary plasmid vector comprising theexpression cassette that contains the a Cry9 family nucleotide sequence(e.g., SEQ ID NO: 3 operably linked to the wun1 promoter is introducedinto Agrobacterium strain EHA105 via freeze-thawing as described byHolsters et al. (1978) Mol. Gen. Genet. 163:181-187. This plasmidfurther comprises a kanamycin selectable marker gene (i.e, nptII).Bacteria for plant transformation experiments are grown overnight (28°C. and 100 RPM continuous agitation) in liquid YEP medium (10 gm/l yeastextract, 10 gm/l Bactopeptone, and 5 gm/l NaCl, pH 7.0) with theappropriate antibiotics required for bacterial strain and binary plasmidmaintenance. The suspension is used when it reaches an OD₆₀₀ of about0.4 to 0.8. The Agrobacterium cells are pelleted and resuspended at afinal OD₆₀₀ of 0.5 in an inoculation medium comprised of 12.5 mM MES pH5.7, 1 gm/l NH₄Cl, and 0.3 gm/l MgSO₄.

Freshly bombarded explants are placed in an Agrobacterium suspension,mixed, and left undisturbed for 30 minutes. The explants are thentransferred to GBA medium and co-cultivated, cut surface down, at 26° C.and 18-hour days. After three days of co-cultivation, the explants aretransferred to 374B (GBA medium lacking growth regulators and a reducedsucrose level of 1%) supplemented with 250 mg/l cefotaxime and 50 mg/lkanamycin sulfate. The explants are cultured for two to five weeks onselection and then transferred to fresh 374B medium lacking kanamycinfor one to two weeks of continued development. Explants withdifferentiating, antibiotic-resistant areas of growth that have notproduced shoots suitable for excision are transferred to GBA mediumcontaining 250 mg/l cefotaxime for a second 3-day phytohormonetreatment. Leaf samples from green, kanamycin-resistant shoots areassayed for the presence of NPTII by ELISA and for the presence oftransgene expression by assaying for pesticidal activity.

NPTII-positive shoots are grafted to Pioneer® hybrid 6440 in vitro-grownsunflower seedling rootstock. Surface sterilized seeds are germinated in48-0 medium (half-strength Murashige and Skoog salts, 0.5% sucrose, 0.3%Gelrite™, pH 5.6) and grown under conditions described for explantculture. The upper portion of the seedling is removed, a 1 cm verticalslice is made in the hypocotyl, and the transformed shoot inserted intothe cut. The entire area is wrapped with parafilm to secure the shoot.Grafted plants can be transferred to soil following one week of in vitroculture. Grafts in soil are maintained under high humidity conditionsfollowed by a slow acclimatization to the greenhouse environment.Transformed sectors of T₀ plants (parental generation) maturing in thegreenhouse are identified by NPTII ELISA and/or by pesticidal activityanalysis of leaf extracts while transgenic seeds harvested fromNPTII-positive T₀ plants are identified by analysis of small portions ofdry seed cotyledon.

An alternative sunflower transformation protocol allows the recovery oftransgenic progeny without the use of chemical selection pressure. Seedsare dehulled and surface-sterilized for 20 minutes in a 20% Clorox™bleach solution with the addition of two to three drops of Tween™ 20 per100 ml of solution, then rinsed three times with distilled water.Sterilized seeds are imbibed in the dark at 26° C. for 20 hours onfilter paper moistened with water. The cotyledons and root radical areremoved, and the meristem explants are cultured on 374E (GBA mediumconsisting of MS salts, Shepard vitamins, 40 mg/l adenine sulfate, 3%sucrose, 0.5 mg/l 6-BAP, 0.25 mg/l IAA, 0.1 mg/l GA, and 0.8% Phytagar™at pH 5.6) for 24 hours under the dark. The primary leaves are removedto expose the apical meristem, around 40 explants are placed with theapical dome facing upward in a 2 cm circle in the center of 374M (GBAmedium with 1.2% Phytagar™), and then cultured on the medium for 24hours in the dark.

Approximately 18.8 mg of 1.8 μm tungsten particles are resuspended in150 μl absolute ethanol. After sonication, 8 μl of it is dropped on thecenter of the surface of macrocarrier. Each plate is bombarded twicewith 650 psi rupture discs in the first shelf at 26 mm of Hg helium gunvacuum.

The plasmid of interest is introduced into Agrobacterium tumefaciensstrain EHA105 via freeze thawing as described previously. The pellet ofovernight-grown bacteria at 28° C. in a liquid YEP medium (10 g/l yeastextract, 10 g/l Bactopeptone, and 5 g/l NaCl, pH 7.0) in the presence of50 μg/l kanamycin is resuspended in an inoculation medium (12.5 mM 2-mM2-(N-morpholino) ethanesulfonic acid, MES, 1 g/l NH₄Cl and 0.3 g/l MgSO₄at pH 5.7) to reach a final concentration of 4.0 at OD 600.Particle-bombarded explants are transferred to GBA medium (374E), and adroplet of bacteria suspension is placed directly onto the top of themeristem. The explants are co-cultivated on the medium for 4 days, afterwhich the explants are transferred to 374C medium (GBA with 1% sucroseand no BAP, IAA, GA3 and supplemented with 250 μg/ml cefotaxime). Theplantlets are cultured on the medium for about two weeks under 16-hourday and 26° C. incubation conditions.

Explants (around 2 cm long) from two weeks of culture in 374C medium arescreened for pesticidal activity using assays known in the art. Afterpositive (i.e., for Cry9 family expression) explants are identified,those shoots that fail to exhibit pesticidal activity are discarded, andevery positive explant is subdivided into nodal explants. One nodalexplant contains at least one potential node. The nodal segments arecultured on GBA medium for three to four days to promote the formationof auxiliary buds from each node. Then they are transferred to 374Cmedium and allowed to develop for an additional four weeks. Developingbuds are separated and cultured for an additional four weeks on 374Cmedium. Pooled leaf samples from each newly recovered shoot are screenedagain by the appropriate protein activity assay. At this time, thepositive shoots recovered from a single node will generally have beenenriched in the transgenic sector detected in the initial assay prior tonodal culture.

Recovered shoots positive for expression of a toxin from the Cry9-familyare grafted to Pioneer® hybrid 6440 in vitro-grown sunflower seedlingrootstock. The rootstocks are prepared in the following manner. Seedsare dehulled and surface-sterilized for 20 minutes in a 20% Clorox™bleach solution with the addition of two to three drops of Tween™ 20 per100 ml of solution, and are rinsed three times with distilled water. Thesterilized seeds are germinated on the filter moistened with water forthree days, then they are transferred into 48 medium (half-strength MSsalt, 0.5% sucrose, 0.3% Gelrite™ pH 5.0) and grown at 26° C. under thedark for three days, then incubated at 16-hour-day culture conditions.The upper portion of selected seedling is removed, a vertical slice ismade in each hypocotyl, and a transformed shoot is inserted into aV-cut. The cut area is wrapped with parafilm. After one week of cultureon the medium, grafted plants are transferred to soil. In the first twoweeks, they are maintained under high humidity conditions to acclimatizeto a greenhouse environment.

Example 8 Breeding

A. Pedigree Breeding

Pedigree breeding starts with the crossing of two genotypes, such as anelite line of interest and one other elite inbred line having one ormore desirable characteristics (i.e., having stably incorporated apolynucleotide of the invention, having a modulated activity and/orlevel of the polypeptide of the invention, etc) which complements theelite line of interest. If the two original parents do not provide allthe desired characteristics, other sources can be included in thebreeding population. In the pedigree method, superior plants are selfedand selected in successive filial generations. In the succeeding filialgenerations the heterozygous condition gives way to homogeneous lines asa result of self-pollination and selection. Typically in the pedigreemethod of breeding, five or more successive filial generations ofselfing and selection is practiced: F1→F2; F2→F3; F3→F4; F4→F₅, etc.After a sufficient amount of inbreeding, successive filial generationswill serve to increase seed of the developed inbred. In specificembodiments, the inbred line comprises homozygous alleles at about 95%or more of its loci.

In addition to being used to create a backcross conversion, backcrossingcan also be used in combination with pedigree breeding to modify anelite line of interest and a hybrid that is made using the modifiedelite line. As discussed previously, backcrossing can be used totransfer one or more specifically desirable traits from one line, thedonor parent, to an inbred called the recurrent parent, which hasoverall good agronomic characteristics yet lacks that desirable trait ortraits. However, the same procedure can be used to move the progenytoward the genotype of the recurrent parent but at the same time retainmany components of the non-recurrent parent by stopping the backcrossingat an early stage and proceeding with selfing and selection. Forexample, an F1, such as a commercial hybrid, is created. This commercialhybrid may be backcrossed to one of its parent lines to create a BC1 orBC2. Progeny are selfed and selected so that the newly developed inbredhas many of the attributes of the recurrent parent and yet several ofthe desired attributes of the non-recurrent parent. This approachleverages the value and strengths of the recurrent parent for use in newhybrids and breeding.

Therefore, an embodiment of this invention is a method of making abackcross conversion of maize inbred line of interest, comprising thesteps of crossing a plant of maize inbred line of interest with a donorplant comprising a mutant gene or transgene conferring a desired trait(i.e., the expression of protein having pesticidal activity), selectingan F1 progeny plant comprising the mutant gene or transgene conferringthe desired trait, and backcrossing the selected F1 progeny plant to theplant of maize inbred line of interest. This method may further comprisethe step of obtaining a molecular marker profile of maize inbred line ofinterest and using the molecular marker profile to select for a progenyplant with the desired trait and the molecular marker profile of theinbred line of interest. In the same manner, this method may be used toproduce an F1 hybrid seed by adding a final step of crossing the desiredtrait conversion of maize inbred line of interest with a different maizeplant to make F1 hybrid maize seed comprising a mutant gene or transgeneconferring the desired trait.

B. Recurrent Selection and Mass Selection

Recurrent selection is a method used in a plant breeding program toimprove a population of plants. The method entails individual plantscross pollinating with each other to form progeny. The progeny are grownand the superior progeny selected by any number of selection methods,which include individual plant, half-sib progeny, full-sib progeny,selfed progeny and topcrossing. The selected progeny arecross-pollinated with each other to form progeny for another population.This population is planted and again superior plants are selected tocross pollinate with each other. Recurrent selection is a cyclicalprocess and therefore can be repeated as many times as desired. Theobjective of recurrent selection is to improve the traits of apopulation. The improved population can then be used as a source ofbreeding material to obtain inbred lines to be used in hybrids or usedas parents for a synthetic cultivar. A synthetic cultivar is theresultant progeny formed by the intercrossing of several selectedinbreds.

Mass selection is a useful technique when used in conjunction withmolecular marker enhanced selection. In mass selection seeds fromindividuals are selected based on phenotype and/or genotype. Theseselected seeds are then bulked and used to grow the next generation.Bulk selection requires growing a population of plants in a bulk plot,allowing the plants to self-pollinate, harvesting the seed in bulk andthen using a sample of the seed harvested in bulk to plant the nextgeneration. Instead of self pollination, directed pollination could beused as part of the breeding program.

All publications, patents and patent applications mentioned in thespecification are indicative of the level of those skilled in the art towhich this invention pertains. All publications, patents and patentapplications are herein incorporated by reference to the same extent asif each individual publication, patent or patent application wasspecifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference.

Although the foregoing invention has been described in some detail byway of illustration and example for purposes of clarity ofunderstanding, it will be obvious that certain changes and modificationsmay be practiced within the scope of the embodiments.

1. An isolated polypeptide that has pesticidal activity against at leastone pest belonging to the order Lepidoptera, wherein said polypeptide isselected from the group consisting of: (a) a polypeptide comprising theamino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 4, 27, or 31; (b) apolypeptide characterized by at least 90% sequence identity to an aminoacid sequence of (a); and (c) a polypeptide characterized by at least95% sequence identity to an amino acid sequence of (a).
 2. A pesticidalcomposition comprising at least one polypeptide according to claim 1 incombination with a carrier.
 3. The pesticidal composition of claim 2,further comprising an additional Bacillus thuringiensis toxin.
 4. Amethod for impacting an insect pest comprising applying the pesticidalcomposition of claim 3 to the environment of the insect pest by aprocedure selected from the group consisting of spraying, dusting,broadcasting, and seed coating.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein saidinsect pest is selected from the group consisting of European cornborer, diamond-back moth, and fall armyworm.